Woman Sues Over Broken Toilet
Nuisance lawsuit? I dunno. A cracked toilet that fails on a 120-130 woman is badly broken. Now the courts get to decide how humiliating is it to have to ask for help getting your butt unstuck.
Unrelated photo of a broken toilet.
New Jersey woman sues Starters Pub for injuries caused by a cracked toilet seat
Friday, December 05, 2008 | By JD MALONE | The Express-Times
L. SAUCON TWP. | A New Jersey woman claims a defective toilet seat led to a harrowing situation in a bathroom at Starters Pub which left her with permanent injuries, according to a federal lawsuit.
Kathleen Hewko, of Burlington County, alleged that a handicapped toilet seat split, depositing her into the ceramic bowl where she was trapped for 20 minutes. She filed the suit last month for the incident November 2006 at the pub on Route 378.
Hewko was recovering from a hip injury at the time, according to her lawyer, John D. Cirrinicione of Philadelphia. Along with aggravating her injury, she hurt her back and thigh, the suit says.
She seeks at least $150,000 in damages from Starters and the Kohler Co. — the manufacturer of the toilet seat. Her husband, John Hewko, seeks at least $75,000 from both defendants for loss of companionship from his wife.
Starters owner Dave Rank said he could not comment on the lawsuit. A representative of Kohler did not immediately return a phone call and an e-mail seeking comment.
The lawsuit claims the restaurant knew of the cracked seat and that a similar incident occurred earlier the same week. Cirrinicione declined to comment on the prior incident, just saying he had reason to believe the restaurant knew of the defective seat.
The suit also claims a properly built toilet seat would have accommodated Hewko.
The suit says the seat split in half as she sat on it and should not have since she weighs 130-140 pounds, according to court papers. It dropped her into the bowl where she had to cry for help before being freed, the suit says.
The Hewkos, along with their son, Colin, ate at the restaurant in the afternoon when Kathleen Hewko needed to use the bathroom. Court papers said her injuries will not heal and that she suffered severe mental anguish.