Lawsuit Filed Over Eye Injury from DeWalt Grinder Brush

A Pennsylvania man who claims to have been blinded in one eye by a DeWalt carbon crimp brush has filed a product liability lawsuit against both the tool maker and Home Depot. 

Kevin Waitz and his wife, Karen, filed a complaint (PDF) in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on May 16, alleging that DeWalt Industrial Tool Company and Home Depot manufactured and sold a defectively designed 3 inch DeWalt Carbon Crimp Cup Brush, which allowed a bristle to detach when the power tool was turned on.

After purchasing the brush at Home Depot in August 2010, Waitz attached it to a DeWalt Heavy Duty Small Angle Grinder the next month and turned it on. One or more of the wire bristles were launched from the brush, piercing Waitz’s left eye, retina and lens.

As a result of the Dewalt grinder brush, Waitz suffered retina and lens damage and scarring, permanent blindness in that eye, nerve injuries, headaches, emotional and psychological trauma, disfigurement, pain and suffering, according to the complaint. He had to undergo emergency and follow-up hospitalization, surgery and is likely to incur more treatment and medical expenses in the future.

It is unclear from the lawsuit whether he was wearing eye protection, but the claim states that he was operating the device “in a safe and reasonably foreseeable manner.”

The lawsuit charges the defendants with strict liability and breach of warranty, alleging that the DeWalt Carbon Crimp Brush was defectively designed and failed to carry adequate safety warnings. His wife charges DeWalt and Home Depot with loss of consortium.