$1.425M Verdict: Defective Exercise Equipment

$1.425 million verdict in a products liability case, whereby a high school teacher was seriously injured while using a home exercise device that hooks into any doorframe and allows a person to perform pull-ups and sit-ups using their own body weight. The accident happened when the device unhooked from the frame, as the plaintiff was doing reverse crunches, causing the plaintiff to land on his head and fracture a vertebra in his neck. He underwent spinal fusion to insert a cage, which left him with mild numbness in his hands. The company was Chinese-based, so we sued and collected from the U.S. product distributor.