Penn National Gets House Fire Suit Against Sam’s Club Reinstated

A family and its home insurer, Pennsylvania National Mutual Casualty Insurance Co., may proceed on product liability claims against Sam’s Club companies over a space heater blamed for a house fire because a jury could find it was defective, the Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled.

Pennsylvania’s “malfunction theory,” allowing a jury to infer a defect from the fact of a malfunction, can be used here, the appeals court said in reinstating the case. “Possessing, retaining, and having an expert examine a product does not preclude a plaintiff from advancing a product malfunction theory,” Judge Anne E. Lazarus said March 19 in ...