Henrietta Township couple suing maker of wood boiler

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Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 11:34 am---Post subject: OWB lawsuit (Michigan)

Henrietta Township couple suing maker of wood boiler

by Danielle Quisenberry | Jackson Citizen Patriot

Thursday November 13, 2008, 7:15 AM

A Henrietta Township couple is suing a Minnesota outdoor wood boiler manufacturer that they allege knowingly creates and sells heating devices proven to be harmful to human health.

A Texas lawyer filed the suit last month in the District Court of Hennepin County, Minn., on behalf of Roger and Mary Soldano — whose neighbor used a wood boiler. The defendant is Red Lake Falls, Minn.-based Northwest Manufacturing Inc.

"Northwest Manufacturing has known about the dangerous emissions and smoke generated by the (outdoor wood boiler) in question and others like it for some time and has failed to warn the public or take any action to correct a defectively designed product," the lawsuit reads.

"As a direct and proximate result of the reckless, negligent, callous, and outrageous acts and omissions of Defendant Northwest Manufacturing Inc., Roger Soldano has sustained serious debilitating injuries."

The company's president could not be reached for comment.

Soldano's wife also has suffered long-lasting health effects and the company should be held liable for the pair's past and future medical expenses, loss of earnings and earning capacity, and their diminished enjoyment of life, according to the document.

The Soldanos' neighbor, Richard Cady on Hankerd Road near Mud Lake, for two heating seasons used an outdoor wood boiler that transfers heat through water lines from an outside structure to a home. He bought the device, a Woodmaster 4400, from Northwest Manufacturing.

Increasingly popular and largely unregulated in Michigan, the boilers are touted as inexpensive alternatives to gas or propane heat.

They also have been proven to be inefficient polluters, according to health and environmental organizations.

"It is really surprising these things are still on the market," said Soldano's lawyer, Joseph E. Ritch, who specializes in product-liability law in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Todd Strem, Northwest Manufacturing's sales and marketing manager, said last month that the company is developing more efficient, cleaner-burning models and encourages users to be conscientious of their neighbors and follow "best burn practices."

The company has worked with the Environmental Protection Agency to come up with federal standards, now voluntary, for outdoor wood boilers, he said.

On Sept. 30, Jackson County Circuit Judge Chad Schmucker ordered Cady to remove or make inoperable his wood boiler after a Jackson County health officer informed Cady the boiler was a public health hazard.

The order prohibits Cady from using the burner until the matter is settled before or after a trial scheduled for Feb. 25.

The Jackson County case is separate from the Minnesota case, which does not involve Cady.

Cady's burner sat about 180 feet downwind from the Soldano house, according to court records and caused a cloud of smoke to settle over his neighbors.

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