The Wrongful Death of a Man Crushed By Defective Display Case Results in a $6 Million Settlement

This case arises from the wrongful death of 25-year-old Xu Wang on Aug. 13, 2022, in Los Angeles, where he died of being asphyxiated by the crushing of his chest and body, caused by a defective refrigerated display case (Ciam Group Model # VT 1150) manufactured and/or designed by defendants CIAM and/or Ciam Group. Defendants AE Holdings USA LLC, Advanced Gourmet Equipment & Design, LLC, who were Ciam’s authorized distributors of the subject product in the United States.

On Aug. 13, 2022, decedent Xu Wang was working part time at Yu Cake Bakery, where he had been working for approximately two months, while he was going to college at CSULA. Although he was a cashier at the bakery, at night the employees would take turns cleaning the display cases.

The defective display case was a Ciam standalone refrigerated display case with a single level glass display on top. The top portion of the glass display was lifted up and down by means of a button, with a lifting and lowering mechanism on the front sides of the glass display section. That button was located in a position where it could be accidentally activated while the display case was being cleaned. There were no warnings on the refrigerated display case of the dangers posed by the lifting/lowering mechanism.

At the time of the incident, decedent (“Alan”) and another employee were working in the front of the bakery cleaning the display cases. Alan’s co-employee heard him call out to her, and she saw that Alan was stuck with his right arm and chest in between the display case lid and the main body of the display case. She tried to push the button on the product to try to lift up the lid of the display case, but the lid wouldn’t go up.

She called an employee from the back of the store to try to help her lift up the lid. He tried to pry the lid open with a metal pole, but it wouldn’t open. He then got a hammer and tried to break the “glass”, but it wouldn’t break. Consequently, Alan could not be extricated from the display case, and he died from being asphyxiated by the crushing forces generated by the display case.

The family of Xu Wang was represented by Daniel E. Hoffman, of The Law Offices of Scott Warmuth.

Plaintiff contended that defendant Ciam Group was liable as the manufacturer of the product and the distributors (who are the settling defendants) were also liable as distributors of the product.

The case settled for $6 million. They settled with the distributor of the defective product only, AE Holdings USA, LLC, and Advanced Gourmet Equipment & Design, LLC (sole US distributors of product).