Infomercial bestseller NutriBullet investigated over ‘exploding’ units

(NutriBullet.com)

They may be small but those space-saving NutriBullet blenders are being accused of packing a serious punch with several users claiming they were badly burned after the devices allegedly exploded in their faces..

One plaintiff, Pete Damiano, alleges he was injured while making a mango sauce for his family. Damiano’s attorney says he put hot liquid into the blender, and as he was using it the top blasted off the blending base causing first and second-degree burns to his hands, torso and face. Damiano also claims he was almost blinded.

“My client did not have warnings on his device and the user manual had soup recipes on it,” Lori Andrus, a lawyer representing Damiano told Fox News.

“We [Andrus' San Francisco-based firm] sued the makers of Magic Bullet, a year ago, for the same suit. We settled the suit, and got them to add the warnings to their manuals.

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"I suspect that since they [NutriBullet] are a common defendant they’ve starting adding the same warnings,” Andrus said.

Andrus’s lawsuit names NutriBullet LLC, Homeland Housewares LLC, Captial Brands LLC, and Call To Action LLC as defendants – all four are connected with the design, sales and manufacturing of the product, according to the lawyer.

The most recent edition of the NutriBullet manual supplies clear warnings to users regarding heated contents.

“Do not put hot liquids in any of the blending vessels before blending. Start with cool or room temperature ingredients. Heated ingredients can create internal pressure in a sealed blending vessel, which may erupt on opening and cause thermal injury.”

But some allege that it’s not just hot liquids that can burn users.

A recent segment that aired on the Australian talk show Today Tonight Adelaide featured several people sharing their experiences with the small blender. Some guests alleged that they were using room temperature products when the contents of the blender became so hot that the container burst off, they were splashed and received what appeared to be terrible burns on their faces, neck and hands.

London-based film director Richard Moore claims he was blending a peanut butter smoothie when he noticed the blades started to spin faster than usual, followed by the explosion of the machine.

"It felt like my hands were on fire," Moore told Today Tonight Adelaid, adding that he spent multiple nights in the hospital and has faced sleepless nights due to pain.

The current manual does warn users about the possibility of cool or room temperature liquids heating up with too much friction from the spinning blades.

“CAUTION! Friction from the rotating blade can cause ingredients to heat and generate internal pressure in the sealed vessel. Do not continuously operate for more than one minute. If the vessel is warm to touch, allow to cool before carefully opening pointed away from your body.”

“I’m glad they’re warning people now. I’m just worried that millions of people already have them, and they’re not doing a recall,” Andrus says.

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Damiano's suit is not the first against the hand-operated blending device.

In 2014, a Florida woman sued NutriBullet's parent company, Capital Brands, claiming the device exploded and scalded her face, while also causing property damage to her kitchen and interior ceiling.

And in January a New York woman sued the brand, alleging that her high-efficiency blender exploded, and hot liquid burned her face and body.

NutriBullet has sold more than 40 million devices worldwide.

When reached via email, Mark Suzumoto, Capital Brands' chief legal officer, told Fox News that the company does not comment on pending litigation but noted they "will rely upon the orderly processes of the judicial system to marshal the evidence and to help to resolve what has been fairly disputed by the parties in your referenced lawsuit."