ORLANDO, Fla. – A Florida man has filed a lawsuit against Virginia-based Stihl Inc. for “significant and painful bodily injuries” he allegedly sustained when using one of its battery-powered chainsaws.
Plaintiff Westley Norman Kingsbury filed his lawsuit May 30 against Stihl in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
Kingsbury, a Saint Petersburg resident, alleges he suffers from permanent scarring, discoloration, and ongoing numbness and pain as a result of a June 14, 2023 accident involving Stihl’s battery-powered chainsaw, Model No. MSA 300.
Stihl, headquartered in Virginia Beach, Va., designs, manufactures, distributes, and sells a variety of garden and landscaping tools.
Kingsbury contends Stihl knowingly sold a product that “suffers from dangerous defects.”
“As a direct and proximate result of Defendant’s intentional concealment of such defects, its failure to warn consumers of such defects, its negligent misrepresentations, its failure to timely remove a product with such defects from the stream of commerce, and its negligent design of such products, Plaintiff used an unreasonably dangerous chain saw, which resulted in significant and painful bodily injuries to Plaintiff,” according to the 12-page complaint.
Kingsbury was using the chainsaw to complete a professional mangrove trimming. After making a cut in a branch, he removed his finger from the chainsaw’s trigger. Its blade did not stop spinning and caught Kingsbury’s leg, slicing into his thigh and giving him an open bone laceration.
The complaint noted that Kingsbury used the chainsaw for its intended purpose – to cut trees and branches – and did not “materially alter” the tool.
Exactly three months after the incident, on Sept. 14, 2023, the Consumer Products Safety Commission announced a recall of about 2,800 STIHL MSA 300 chainsaws.
According to the recall notice, an issue with the chainsaws’ braking system, specifically the brake drum and brake band, caused the tools to “take longer to brake than expected, posing a laceration hazard.”
Kingsbury’s lawsuit contends this is not the first time Stihl has had problems with its chainsaws.
“Stihl chainsaws have repeatedly been the subject of recalls, with CPSC recalls extending back to as early as 1994,” the complaint states. “More than one of these recalls has involved issues and defects which caused the chainsaw’s blades to spin when they were not supposed to.”
The complaint continues, “Stihl knew or should have known of the defects in the subject chainsaw, but nevertheless put profit ahead of safety by continuing to sell its chainsaws to consumers, failing to warn said consumers of the serious risks posed by the defects, and failing to timely recall the dangerously defective chainsaws despite the risk of significant injuries to Plaintiff and consumers like him.”
Kingsbury alleges that as a result of the company’s conduct, he incurred serious injuries, medical expenses, physical pain, mental anguish, loss of wages, and a diminished enjoyment of life.
He is suing Stihl for strict liability, negligence, breach of implied warranty of fitness, and breach of implied warranty of merchantability.
He is seeking compensation for his injuries, economic loss, and pain and suffering, and pre- and post-judgment interest.
Johnson Becker PLLC, a St. Paul, Minn.-based firm, is representing Kingsbury in the action.
