Injury Lawsuit - Cut by water

[mayadreamin]

I'm looking for knowledge and suggestions where our company is being sued. Details... the lady claims the high pressure was on in the bay as soon as she inserted the money without pulling the high pressure trigger (guns were probably Giant or JE Adams. hard to know 2 years later). She started washing and when she reached to get the hose past her luggage rack, the wand overpowered her and she cut her hand. She waited 22 months to notify us (by lawsuit). Has anyone had experience where bay guns stuck in the high pressure position. We have no knowledge of this ever happening. Also, she infers that our pressure was well above "normal". We run about 1100psi at pump. What are the chances of pump pressure increasing dramatically?

Any advice or technical knowledge on these two events happening simultaneously? Not much doubt she was cut at carwash. However, serious doubt there was ever an equipment malfunction. Our pressures seem to be very average.

Help please!

 

[I.B. Washincars]

Waiting 22 months is totally rediculous. I would let the insurance company handle it and not worry a whole lot about it. I don't think they can any more prove what happened, than you can disprove it. Don't try to deal with it yourself.

I can't ever remember having a problem that caused an increase in pressure. Seems every part failure I had caused a decrease. I'm not saying it can't happen, it just hasn't happened to me in my 39 years in the biz.

 

[Randy]

Call your insurance carrier immediately, let them handle it

 

[MEP001]

As suggested several times before, have her or her insurance contact your insurance. Don't get into it at all yourself. Sounds like she's scamming, though.

 

[mayadreamin]

I have turned it over to insurance. We have already had some depositions which is when we learned the alleged details. I was just curious what some of you with more experience thought or experienced.

Thanks for the feedback. It's kind of difficult to not worry about this after fiasco's like McDonalds being sued for hot coffee!

 

[lag]

As with other areas of or washes , we have signs stating "high pressure ,use at your own risk". second line says "firmly grasp wand before inserting money".

Guns do stick in in the high pressure position. I think however this is a scam ,hopefully your insurance people will put the burden of proof on her. I would make her prove she was even on you property that day.

I also wonder why she did not notify you before now, our customers will let us know ASAP if we have any issue in our bays.

On a side note , we run through all of our functions daily ,and change hoses and guns 2 times a year ,maybe overkill on part replacement,but does give us some piece of mind.

Let us know how things turn out. Good luck

 

[MEP001]

On a side note , we run through all of our functions daily ,and change hoses and guns 2 times a year ,maybe overkill on part replacement,but does give us some piece of mind.

I wish more operators did this. I only test all the functions once a week, but I do rinse all the bays every day, even if they don't look dirty, to make sure things are working. I also examine the bay hoses and if the rubber near the gun is starting to crack, I replace it. Cheap insurance against injury to a blown hose, and I haven't had a hose break on a customer in over four years.

When I was a tech, I'd go to washes all over, and it was rare that I'd see a wash maintained to that level. Most owner/operators just blow through, do a minimal cleanup, collect the coins and get out as fast as they can.

 

[Jason Studer]

You would have to put your hand directly in front of the nozzle and hold it there in order to cut yourself bad enough. She is a scammer. 22 months later, did she loose function in Her hand? Is she a hand model and it left a scar? As stated, don't worry let your insurance company deal with Her. The insurance company want to pay out to Her less then you want them to pay Her.

Try putting your hand infront of the tip and see what happens, you will pull away well before you get cut.

 

[MEP001]

Try putting your hand infront of the tip and see what happens, you will pull away well before you get cut.

If everything is working right, maybe. Many years ago I was using a wash to clean the mud out of a bumper that I'd biught from a junkyard. I found out later that they were using unloaders with trigger guns, and most of them were bad. When you'd release the trigger the pressure would surge almost to 2,000 PSI. I was sticking the tip into holes and gaps in the bumper and flushing mud out of it, and I missed and blasted a hole in my left index fingertip right down to bone. There was no time at all for a reaction.

The father of that same wash's owner was cleaning his RV there, and he did something similar; he pulled the trigger and passed the spray over his forearm at the same time while he was holding onto the ladder trying to clean the roof. It left a huge, ugly, bloody mess of a wound behind that wasn't very deep but took over a year to heal where it wasn't noticeable.