Tampa, FL: Defective motorized wheelchairs and scooters may become the subject of personal injury lawsuits, as well as federal regulatory scrutiny, following a recently successful lawsuit filed by the family of Carolyn Sorenson, a 66-year old woman who died as a result of the seat in her Drive Daytona scooter collapsing.
The lawyers representing Kirsten Sorenson, the daughter of the deceased, filed the defective products lawsuit contending that the manufacturer and distributor, Medical Depot and Home Medical Equipment, were not only negligent but also knew in advance of placing the electric wheelchair on the market that it had significant design flaws. Reportedly, the defense admitted to knowing of at least two other cases in which the seats cracked on the motorized scooter.
Sorenson' mother was found dead in the trash room of her apartment building, some six hours after the seat in her scooter collapsed, trapping her. The official cause of death was deemed "positional asphyxiation."
The allegations against Medical Depot and Home Medical Equipment contended that the defendants were negligent in designing and manufacturing the scooter seat such that the seatback was connected to the seat bottom with nothing but pieces of plastic that were not strong enough to support the deceased in foreseeable operating conditions. Further, the defendants were negligent in that they failed to warn of the inadequate and dangerous seatback; in failing to test the seatback in foreseeable operating conditions; and in failing to design a seat that would support the decedent in foreseeable operating conditions.
