ST. LOUIS — A Missouri man has filed a federal lawsuit against Walmart alleging he suffered serious injuries after an Instant Pot pressure cooker he purchased from the retail giant malfunctioned during regular use.
The plaintiff, Bradley Armfield, a resident of Pacific, asserts that he was severely burned on Aug. 14, 2020, when the lid of his Instant Pot Duo Mini Pressure Cooker opened while the contents were still under pressure, according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri on June 9.
This resulted in the forceful ejection of scalding hot food onto Armfield, causing “serious and substantial burn injuries.”
The complaint claims that the pressure cooker’s safety mechanisms failed during normal, directed use.
Armfield purchased the appliance in February 2020 at his local Walmart.
The lawsuit alleges that Walmart, which marketed and sold the product, is liable for distributing a defective and unreasonably dangerous item.
“Said pressure cookers are advertised as convenient and safe and are touted for their supposed ‘safety’ features, which claim to prevent the units from being opened
while in use,” the complaint states. “Despite these claims of ‘safety,’ Defendant marketed, imported, distributed, and sold a product that suffers from serious and dangerous defects. Said defects cause significant risk of bodily harm and injury to its consumers.”
While Instant Brands, the manufacturer of the pressure cooker, is not named as a defendant due to its ongoing bankruptcy proceedings, Armfield argues that Walmart holds direct responsibility for placing the product into the consumer market.
The complaint claims that the product was marketed with supposed “10 Safety Mechanisms” that led consumers to believe the pressure cooker could not be opened while still pressurized.
The accompanying user manual, the lawsuit states, reinforced this belief by describing a “float valve” designed to lock the lid in place until the internal pressure was fully released.
“Defendant’s pressure cookers possess defects that make them unreasonably dangerous for their intended use by consumers because the lid can be rotated and opened while the unit remains pressurized,” the complaint states. “Economic, safer alternative designs were available that could have prevented the Pressure Cooker’s lid from being rotated and opened while pressurized.”
However, Armfield alleges that these safety features failed, and that he was able to rotate and open the lid despite the unit still being under pressure.
The incident was not due to any misuse or alteration of the product by Armfield or his family, the complaint states.
Instead, the pressure cooker is described as having a dangerous design flaw that allows the lid to be removed prematurely.
The lawsuit also claims that Walmart either knew or should have known about these defects and continued to sell the product without adequate warnings, recalls, or design changes, “putting profit ahead of safety.”
As a result of the alleged defect, Armfield claims to have incurred extensive physical pain, mental anguish, medical expenses, lost wages, and diminished enjoyment of life.
Armfield is seeking both general and special damages, as well as interest, costs of suit and any other relief the court deems appropriate.
Armfield is represented by Matthew J. Devoti, and Matthew C. Casey from Casey Devoti & Brockland in St. Louis and Adam J. Kress of Johnson Becker.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri case number: 4:25-cv-00835
