Monday, 08 October 2007 01:47
El Dorado Man Suing Paintball Gun Manufacturer
An El
Dorado County
man is suing a company that manufactured a paintball gun that killed his wife
three years ago. According to News 10 reporter Jason Kobely, Mark Contois claims KEE
Action Sports has failed to warn consumers about the dangers associated with
their paintball guns. Contois' wife died in 2004 after a teenager
removed a valve while disassembling his gun, causing a charged carbon-dioxide
cylinder to launch into the back of her head. Two years later, her husband
received an $8 million settlement under which the manufacturer agreed to warn consumers
about the guns' potentially deadly discharges. In exchange, he agreed to
dismiss his original lawsuit. Contois' new lawsuit alleges the company has not
lived up to its agreement to warn players.
The lawsuit doesn't seek monetary damages but
asks the company to provide the promised warnings. In 2004, U.S. Consumer
Product Safety Commission issued a warning advising Paintball gun users that
the brass or nickel-plated valve that connects directly to the canister must
not be unscrewed from the canister when removing the canister assembly from a
paintball gun. This valve must stay secured and rotate with the CO2 canister.
In the deaths investigated by the safety commission, the brass valve unscrewed
from the canister, turning the pressurized canister into a deadly projectile. Details on the safe use of
paintball guns is available at the Consumer Product Safety Commission website.
Sacramento News 10 contributed to this story
