Product Liability Compensation Claim Settled over Faulty Shoes

A man, who developed huge blisters on his feet due to high levels of a chemical irritant in the fabric of his shoes, has settled his product liability compensation claim with the American manufacturer.

 Chris Heleine (51) from West Yorkshire had purchased the shoes from a trendy menswear shop in Leeds to wear while on holiday in Menorca, Spain in April 2009. However, within a day of wearing the shoes on his vacation, Chris´s feet developed painful blisters and he was taken to hospital by his wife.

The hospital in Menorca was able to lance the blisters and drain the fluid which had collected beneath the top layer of skin, but for a week, Chris had to return to the hospital on a daily basis to have the dressings checked and changed due to the high risk of infection.

On the return to his home town of Huddersfield, Chris – still experiencing severe sensitivity in his feet – sought legal advice and had the shoes analysed for their chemical content. It was discovered in the test that there was a high level of 2-Mercaptobenzothiazole in the fabric of the shoe – a known irritant which had caused the skin on Chris´s feet to react so dramatically to wearing the shoes.

Chris filed a product liability compensation claim against the American manufacturer of the shoes – Collective Brands – and after the negligent company conducted their own tests, they offered Chris a four figure out-of-court settlement which Chris agreed to.