In Cekic v. Royal-Pak Sys.,Inc ., Isa Cekic was injured when she attempted to remove a bag of garbage lodged at the base of a trash compactor manufactured and installed by Royal-Pak Systems.
Cekic claimed the unit should have automatically deactivated when she opened the hopper door.
After a Kings County Supreme Court jury found against her, Cekic appealed to the Appellate Division, Second Department, which was of the view the jury considered the wrong legal theory.
Since there were no warning signs on the compactor, the interlock switch had been negligently designed and failed to conform with accepted industry standards, the AD2 thought the jury should have been allowed to consider Cekic's claims of negligent design, failure to warn, and breach of implied warranty.
In other words, Royal-Pak got royally trashed.
To download a copy of the Appellate Division's decision, please use this link: Cekic v. Royal-Pak Sys.,Inc.