John Uustal, Michael Hersh and Catherine Darlson, Kelley/Uustal.

John Uustal, Michael Hersh and Catherine Darlson

Kelley/Uustal

The Consumer Product Safety Commission, police and firefighters found no defect in a pressure cooker after a toddler suffered debilitating burns that required amputations.

A pressure cooker burst beside 2-year-old Samantha Gonzalez when her grandmother was bathing her in the kitchen sink in 2015.

After public agencies found no fault with the kitchen appliance, Kelley/Uustal hired engineering experts — who reached the same conclusion.

Attorneys John Uustal, Michael Hersh and Catherine Darlson thought they had reached a dead end until they noted Samantha's father reported slipping on liquid outside the kitchen.

“Why would there be liquid on the floor outside the kitchen?” Uustal asked. They inspected the kitchen, reviewed police photos again and noticed tiny food particles scattered all over the kitchen, especially the ceiling.

They concluded the pressure cooker opened under pressure. Reviewing the evidence again, they found a neighbor reported hearing the grandmother shouted, “It exploded! It exploded!” Police photos showed the pressure cooker was open.

The legal team concluded the pressure cooker release valve activated by mistake, causing Samantha's grandmother to grab the pressure cooker. A split-second later, the device exploded and shot into the sink.

Additional testing by the law firm's own laboratory and testing staff, who found the pressure cooker had the wrong size internal lockbar, which meant the lock didn't actually lock.

The company fixed the problem after the first three years of manufacturing without reporting the change, which meant the comparison devices used in the testing were not defective.

The defendant's engineering expert conceded the defect in Samantha's case, which settled for $27 million. She lost a leg including one hip, a foot and all of her fingers. The funds will cover medical care, including plastic surgery and technologically advanced prosthetics.