On Wednesday, Eric Hayes filed a complaint in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against AG-Industrial of Eastern P.A., CNH Industrial, Red Wing Farm and affiliated companies after an allegedly faulty tractor caught on fire. Hayes suffered burns while rescuing several horses, according to his complaint.
The complaint recounts that on July 21, 2020, CNH delivered a New Holland Tractor to Red Wing Farm. However, it was inoperable and needed repairs upon arrival. In order to rectify the situation, CNH reportedly called AG-Industrial to come and repair the tractor. The next day, a repair person came and worked on the tractor but at the end of the day said that they “would return to the Barn and finish the Tractor repair the next day.”
This did not come to fruition since the tractor caught on fire and burned the barn down the following morning, the complaint says. Then, the “Plaintiff was called […] to come to the Barn and rescue horses that were being stabled there,” and in the process he “rescued several horses; but in the course of doing s[o] suffered burn injuries.”
The defendants, Hays claims, were “carelessly and negligently distributing, supplying, installing, designing, manufacturing, modifying, and/or selling the subject Tractor and its component parts in a dangerous condition” that ended up physically harming the plaintiff.
Hayes said he suffered permanent injuries from his efforts to save the horses and he will be “obliged to receive and undergo medical attention and care and to expend various sums for the treatment of his injuries and incur such expenditures for an indefinite time in the future.” As a result, he is suing on the counts of products liability – strict liability and negligence, breach of warranty, general negligence and premises liability.
The plaintiff is seeking damages, attorney’s fees and costs, and other relief.
The plaintiff is represented by Florio Perrucci Steinhardt Cappelli Tipton & Taylor, LLC.
