Product liability complaint alleges pressure cooker burned woman after lid, contents exploded

A woman who claims she sustained severe burns when the pressure cooker she was making corned beef in exploded is suing the manufacturers of the kitchen device.

Sharon Hall filed a product liability lawsuit Feb. 19 in the Cook County Circuit Court Wolfgang Puck Wordwide Inc., W.P. Appliances, W.P. Productions Inc., W.P. Licensing Inc., Zhanjiang Hallsmart Electrical Appliances Co. Ltd., and Hallsmart Enterprises Ltd.

According to the complaint, Hall used a Wolfgang Puck pressure cooker, Model No. BPCRM040, to make corned beef with a friend on July 7, 2013 in her South Holland apartment.

She claims she and her friend followed the directions and unplugged the device after the cook light turned off and turned the pressure release device to the vent position to allow for the release of steam.

After letting the pressure cooker sit unplugged for 20 minutes, Hall claims her friend started to turn open the lid, when the lid exploded off the cooker, causing the contents to explode out and make contact with Hall.

She alleges the pressure cooker was unreasonably dangerous and defective, accusing the defendants of making, designing, packaging, selling, distributing and selling for public sale a machine that that didn't have an adequate pressure indicator, anti-blockage cover, steam release valve and sufficient warnings.

Attorney Jeffrey S. Jordan of O'Connor & Nakos Ltd. in Chicago filed the suit on Hall's behalf.

Cook County Circuit Court Case No. 2015L001775.

This is a report on a civil lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court. The details in this report come from an original complaint filed by a plaintiff. Please note that a complaint represents an accusation by a private individual, not the government. It is not an indication of guilt and represents only one side of the story.