When Fishbowls Attack!

Author: Attorney Daniel Villalobos

Client Purchased A Fish Bowl At A Pet Store

Our client, a middle aged woman, purchased a fish bowl at a local pet store. The bowl held about a half-gallon of water. Our client filled the fish bowl with water and placed her desired exotic fish inside. She placed the fishbowl near the window in her kitchen. One morning, she realized the light coming in from the window may have been too strong for the fish. In an effort to protect the fish, she decided to move the fish bowl to another area of the kitchen. She picked up the fish bowl and was walking towards the counter top when suddenly and without warning the fish bowl caved in causing our client to suffer severe lacerations to her right thumb. The remainder of the fish bowl stayed intact and there was only about a two inch hole where her thumb was holding the fish bowl.

Client Undergoes Surgery

Our client was bleeding profusely around the area of her thumb. She suffered deep lacerations to the tendons and muscles in her right hand. The doctors at the hospital stitched up her hand. However, months later, after the wounds healed, the pain did not subside. An orthopedic surgeon determined that the laceration caused internal damage that needed surgery to repair. After months of pain, our client decided to undergo the surgery.

Dell and Schaefer Settle the Claim

After months went by, finally a family member asked our client if she had called an attorney to represent her. Our client thought there was no case since she was carrying the fish bowl when it caved in. She thought potential lawyers would laugh at her for trying to bring a claim. Nevertheless she made the first call. The first law firm she spoke to said they didn’t think the fishbowl company had done anything wrong and they declined the case. The second law firm said they thought they could win money on the case, but that it wouldn’t be more than $5,000 give or take a few thousand. She went through the entire list of attorneys on google and couldn’t find an attorney to take her case. She then found a yellow page advertisement for the Product Defect Attorneys Dell and Schaefer in Hollywood, Florida. Our firm believed the case was strong case and had a much higher value than the other lawyers were advising our client. Our firm not only filed the claim against the maker of the fishbowl, but our firm also included claims against the distributor as well as the local pet store where she purchased the fish bowl. After a lengthy negotiation, our firm settled the defective fishbowl case for $100,000.

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