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Products Liability Keyed Owen, 8th Ed.
Lewis v. Sea Ray Boats, Inc.
Citation:
119 Nev. 100, 65 P.3d 245 (2000)Facts
In May 1991, Leo Gasse and Jimmy Paxson purchased a used Sea Ray pleasure boat from a Las Vegas dealership. On May 29, 1993, during a weekend cruise on Lake Mead, Gasse and Robin Lewis “side-tied” the boat to a beach and went to sleep in the cabin with the gasoline generator running to power the air conditioner. The next day, they were found – Gasse dead and Lewis barely breathing – from carbon monoxide poisoning. Investigation confirmed the generator, not the engines, was the source of the carbon monoxide. The boat came with two warnings regarding carbon monoxide poisoning, one from the generator manufacturer (ONAN) and one from the National Marine Manufacturers’ Association (NMMA), but both primarily addressed dangers from engine exhaust rather than generator use. The plaintiffs’ theory was that “migrating carbon monoxide” from the generator, which was safely exhausted but then blown back into the boat through small openings, caused the accident. The key issue was whether Sea Ray’s warnings adequately addressed this specific danger.
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