May 7, 2008 11:10 pm US/Eastern
Exploding Glass Patio Tables Prompt Lawsuit
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
Imagine sitting at an outdoor patio table and suddenly the glass shatters into a thousands of pieces.
It's happening to consumers in Massachusetts and around the country, and now owners are worried and angry.
"It was like someone dropped a giant suitcase full of bricks on the table. It was so loud," said Andree Vezina of Belmont.
Vezina is talking about the Martha Stewart glass-top patio table she bought at K-Mart.
"It just blew up unexpectedly, so I was really shocked," she said.
Fortunately no one was hurt, but nearly a year later, Vezina still finds pieces of glass wedged into the deck, and she's still angry.
"We could have been eating at that table."
Jackie Thompson of Chelmsford had a similar experience.
"I walked out the door and I looked to my right where the table was, and there it was in little shattered pebbles."
Thompson had no idea how her Martha Stewart table shattered, but when she went online to buy a replacement, she found she was not alone.
"Four hundred other people had experienced a shattered patio table by Martha Stewart," she said.
The patio sets were manufactured by California-based JRA furniture and were sold at K-Mart and Home Depot under the brand names Martha Stewart Living and Hampton Bay. Thompson was surprised she had not been warned about them.
"I was really disappointed that during this period of time I hadn't heard anything about this," she said.
"It's a rarity that that happens," says Norm Hopkins, of Rhode Island Glass.
Hopkins said that the tables are made with tempered glass, which is very strong. He also said that when it does break, it shatters into small pieces, which are less sharp and dangerous than other glasses.
Still, he says it does happen and has one theory, "If there are any irregularities during that tempering process, that can cause the product to be somewhat defective"
Vezina said she believes there should be a recall or a warning. "If I would have known that this could've happened to that table, first, I wouldn't have bought it. I would never put my kids at risk or anyone else for that matter."
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has decided not to order a recall. A class action suit has been filed against Martha Stewart Living and K-Mart, claiming they knew the tables were defectively designed at the time they began selling them.
The Class Action Suit was filed by by
Horwitz, Horwitz and Associates The attorney handling the suit is Paul Paradis.
Click here to email Paradis.
Home Depot Contact: Home Depot says it will handle consumer concerns about their tables on a case-by-case basis. The contact number is: 1-800-Home Depot.
K-Mart Contact: K-Mart gave us this Customer Service Number, 866-562-7848. Ultimately our producer was told that the glass is not covered under warranty and they referred her to a company that "can make a replacement at your cost."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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