I must confess I have never spent a lot of time thinking about men’s underwear. Thus, it never crossed my mind that a products liability case could arise from men’s underwear of any type.
Women’s underwear are different. I am not saying I spend much time thinking about that subject either, but I know of at least one products case that arose because of claimed defect in a thong intended to worn by a woman.
But Albert Freed had a problem with his underwear. He thought that his Hanes underware was defectively designed or manufactured because it "gaped open and acted like a sandbelt on [his] privates." Apparently, this was not a pleasant sensation and allegedly caused an injury.
A Florida trial judge actually wrote an opinion finding for the defendant, concluding that the injury to plaintiff’s penis was caused by sand in his swimming trunks and aggravated by the method plaintiff used to put on his underwear as well as his failure to mitigate damages. Read the opinion to get a grasp on the facts as found by the trial judge. Don’t miss footnote 3.
The only good news to come out of this case is that the plaintiff acted pro se.
Thanks to New York Personal Injury Attorney Blog for informing me about this case.