“The Swol” was a large and popular fitness gym located in th…
“The Swol” was a large and popular fitness gym located in the center of town. The Swol had a large weight lifting room with several areas for the use of dumbbells, kettlebells, barbells with heavy plates on various types of racks, weighted cable machines, and magnetic resistance weight machines. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the owners of the Swol instituted several cleaning policies and procedures aimed at reducing the transmission of viruses among patrons using the facility. One such policy required patrons to wipe down equipment after they had used it. The Swol provided paper towels and spray bottles filled with a cleaning solution for this purpose. However, some patrons misused the cleaning supplies, and recently a few patrons had either slipped on spilled cleaning solution or tripped over bottles or paper towels left laying around the gym by the other patrons. To solve this problem, the owners of the Swol bought a new cleaning product, NoGerms, which was a spray-on aerosol. NoGerms advertised that no germs could live on any surface that was sprayed with NoGerms for a period of one hour after the surface was coated with the product. NoGerms instructions stated that the product should be lightly sprayed on the surface and that no wiping off was required. The Swol decided that it would ask its employees to walk through the gym and spray NoGerms on the equipment about once per hour, to eliminate the risk created by the spray bottles and spilled cleaning solution while still addressing the concern about transmissible viruses. NoGerms was advertised as suitable both for home and commercial use. In very small 2-point print on the back of the can, below the list of ingredients and in the same color and typeface used to print the list of the ingredients, the can of NoGerms read “Not for use on metals” but there was no further information. Known to the company that manufactured NoGerms, but unknown to The Swol or to any other member of the public, the product caused metal surfaces to become slippery, as the product contained a very small amount of mineral oil, which is slippery when applied to metal surfaces. Shortly after The Swol began using NoGerms, patrons began losing their grip on the metal weightlifting equipment, because the dumbbells, kettlebells, barbells, and the metal handles on the various machines all became slippery after they were sprayed with NoGerms. Several patrons were seriously injured. Who will be liable to the injured patrons under a products liability theory?
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