In America, you can sue another individual for what is called "personal injury." There are lawyers who handle such cases. But these lawyers expect to be paid a portion of the money you get from the other party. Such law is called "tort law." Take the case of McMahon v Bunn-O-Matic:
Before Bauer, Easterbrook, and Rovner, Circuit Judges.
Easterbrook, Circuit Judge. During a break from a long-distance auto trip, Jack McMahon bought a cup of coffee from the mini mart at a Mobil station. Jack asked Angelina McMahon, his wife, to remove the plastic lid while he drove. Angelina decided to pour some of the coffee into a smaller cup that would be easier for Jack to handle. In the process the coffee flooded her lap; Angelina suffered second and third degree burns that caused her pain for months and produced scars on her left thigh and lower abdomen. Angelina believes that the Styrofoam cup collapsed, either because it was poorly made or because inordinately hot coffee weakened its structure. The McMahons' claims against the producers of the cup and lid have been settled. The third defendant is Bunn-O-Matic Corporation, which manufactured the coffee maker. According to the McMahons, the temperatures at which Bunn's apparatus brews and serves coffee--195 degrees F during the brewing cycle and 179 degrees F as the "holding" temperature of a carafe on its hotplate--are excessive, and its design therefore defective.
Can the McMahons sue the coffeemaker company for alleged negligence due to a flawed machine leading to personal injury? According to Garrels v FantaCorp--1996.i3.p-21-32: Herewith the soft drink can may constitute a perceived potential risk, or pertaining to perceived risk, at the personal choice of the plaintiff, forthwith giving the company some degree of protection from potential material and/or design inconsistencies... If you proceed with a lawsuit of personal injury against the bakery, then said business may counter with understandable shared risk in the case of an accidental without malice fall resulting in injury.
