On August 14, 2021, Elizabeth B. of Endicott, New York was riding as a passenger on a 2021 Kawasaki Jet Ski Ultra 310LX when she fell off the back of the watercraft and sustained massive, hydrostatic injuries to her vagina, rectum, colon and ovaries. Her injuries were so severe that she was forced to undergo the surgical implantation of a colostomy bag. The accident occurred in Long Island in a canal near Jones Beach.
Kawasaki is well aware of the risk of orifice injuries as it has been sued dozens of times (over the past three decades) by women that, like Elizabeth, sustained severe colorectal injuries upon falling off the back of Kawasaki manufactured PWCs. So not only is Kawasaki well aware of the nature, mechanism and severity of PWC orifice injuries, but it is also aware of the fact that such injuries have continued to occur on its products for over thirty years (and, not surprisingly, with increased frequency as increasingly more powerful machines are manufactured and released into the market). Likewise, there is a mountain of evidence establishing Kawasaki’s knowledge of the existence of safer alternative designs which would prevent injuries such as those sustained by Elizabeth, including a raised seatback with more lumbar support, and Kawasaki owned patents of modified seat designs and handholds (with the stated purpose of reducing the risk of rearward ejections). Despite its knowledge of such alternative designs, Kawasaki has chosen to violate core safety engineering principles by trying to warn its way out of a design defect. Laughery, Kenneth et al. “The Safety Hierarchy and Its Role in Safety Decisions.” www.safetyhumanfactors.org.
Elizabeth is being represented by Mazzola Law Firm, PLLC and Ronemus Vilensky, LLP. The case, styled Elizabeth B. v. Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. et al, will be filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
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