LUFKIN – Whirlpool Corp. has been sued over an early 2015 mobile home fire that claimed the lives of four children.
Jimmy and Amanda Loftin brought the wrongful death lawsuit against the Michigan-based multinational home appliance company on Dec. 6 in the Lufkin Division of the Eastern District of Texas.
According to the Loftins, a defective Whirlpool dryer caused the fire at their Tyler County residence in the pre-dawn hours of Feb. 4, 2015. The suit states that the blaze ignited the home and killed the plaintiffs’ offspring, who were reportedly in their bedrooms.
Court filings assert that the appliance “was not materially altered or modified” from the time of its purchase until the time of the subject event.
“The product was defective in that the dryer, including its component parts, failed to conform to the product design and specifications of other dryers designed for use as household dryers, and was defectively designed so as to render it unreasonably dangerous to the plaintiff(s) due to its inherent but latent propensity to catch fire,” the original petition says.
Consequently, the complainants seek unspecified monetary damages.
They are represented by the law firm Weller, Green, Toups & Terrell, LLP in Beaumont.
Lufkin Division of the Eastern District of Texas Case No. 9:18-CV-0210