Springfield Township, OH — A man lost his hand in an accident at a laundromat in Springfield, Ohio, on Tuesday, October 14, 2014. The accident took place in the 8300 block of Vine Street, at Andy’s Coin Laundry, around 10:30 in the morning.
A man had just finished washing a load of clothes and reached into the machine to take them out. His hand became caught, and reports say his hand spun before being twisted off.
Other customers at the laundry attempted to help the man until emergency workers could arrive. 911 said to try and keep the man warm until help arrived.
The man was taken to University of Cincinnati Medical Center. Doctors are unsure whether or not the man’s hand will be able to be reattached.
The accident is still under investigation.
Scene of the Accident
Commentary
First, this is crazy. I have a hard time wrapping my head around how an accident like this even happens. From a liability perspective, there are two things that stand out to me here. First, the person who owns the machine, and is allowing customers to come in and use it is going to be liable for the accident, at least to some degree, provided they had some reason to believe the machine was hazardous or defective and just hadn’t done anything about it. If the machine was broken, or had hurt others, then the owner should have had it fixed. The second thing that stands out is the possibility that there was just no way the owner of the machine could have seen this accident coming. Who would? In that case you have to ask, what responsibility does the manufacturer have here? Under the theory of products liability, a plaintiff has to show that a product is dangerous. We obviously don’t know all the details of what happened here, but this is something that sure does sound dangerous.
— Grossman Law Offices
