PETOSKEY, Mich. --
An insurance company has filed a lawsuit seeking $1.8 million from
Hallmark Cards and another company over a defective snow globe blamed
for a fire that destroyed a home in northern Michigan.
The Jumbo Snowman snow globe was recalled in December 2008, weeks
after a fire destroyed the Petoskey home of Stephen and Florence Hajek,
who own two card stores. Federal regulators at the time said the globe
could act as a magnifying glass in the sun and cause a fire.
Auto-Owners Insurance paid $1.8 million after the Hajek home was
destroyed. Snow globes and other store inventory were at their home.
The lawsuit, filed Nov. 2 in federal court in Grand Rapids, accuses
Hallmark and a Taiwan company of negligence and product liability. It
claims "inappropriate materials in the shell and interior fluid" of the
globe caused an unsafe medium for sunlight to pass through.
Hallmark, based in Kansas City, Mo., declined to comment on the lawsuit.
There were 7,000 snow globes when the product was recalled, according
to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. They were priced at
$100 each.
I was sitting here this morning reading an e-mail from Firehouse Magazine and came across the above article they had pulled from the AP wire. The more I read, the more dumb-founded I became . . . especially when I read the statement "Federal regulators said at the time said the globe could act as a magnifying glass in the sun and start a fire". Well, duh, that was one of the first basics that I was taught in a physical science class! Two other things struck me in the article: 1) that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (US-CPSC) would recall the globes because of the carelessness of two people; and 2) that there was an attorney who would actually take the case . . .especially since there was no obvious misconduct or fault on the Hallmark Corporation. Oh, well, I can only hope that when the case finally goes to court that cooler - and more knowledgeable - heads will prevail.
Until next time . . .
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