Calif. Man Sues BMW Over 2-Year Erection
An after-market seat on a BMW motorcycle allegedly led to a biker's bizarre medical condition: an erection that's lasted two long years.
Henry Wolf is suing BMW of North America and Corbin-Pacific Inc., the maker of his after-market seat, in a product liability lawsuit filed in San Francisco, USA Today reports.
After a four-hour bike ride in May 2010, Wolf claims the motorcycle's "ridge-like seat" gave him a "severe case of priapism (a persistent lasting erection)," his lawsuit states.
As a result, Henry Wolf "is now unable to engage in sexual activity, which is causing him substantial emotional and mental anguish," the BMW motorcycle erection lawsuit states. The suit does not mention Wolf's age, or where he lives.
In a product liability suit, the person hurt by a product generally claims that a defect somehow caused his injury.
In Wolf's case, he accuses Corbin-Pacific of a design defect: a flaw in the product's intentional design that made it unreasonably dangerous. One way to prove this is to show there was an alternative design that would have prevented the injury.
Wolf also accuses both Corbin and BMW of manufacturing defects: a flaw in the seat sold to him that allegedly fails to conform to the manufacturer's own specifications.
Product liability lawsuits often require expert witnesses to testify about the alleged defects. To qualify as an expert, a witness must generally have specialized knowledge, skill, experience, training or education; a court must also find the expert's opinion will be relevant and reliable.
Henry Wolf's BMW motorcycle erection lawsuit will also likely require a medical expert to testify about his unusual two-year erection. One urologist told Detroit's WWJ radio there's no data to support such a claim. But a "ridge-like seat" could cause "prolonged numbness" in a biker's genitals, the doctor told WWJ.
Related Resources:
- Did BMW Motorcycle Cause Indefatigable Erection? (FindLaw's New York Personal Injury Law Blog)
- Man sues BMW after motorcycle seat allegedly causes 2-year erection (San Francisco Chronicle)
- Product Liability: Manufacturing Defects vs. Design Defects (FindLaw)
- The Top Five Mistakes Expert Witnesses Make (FindLaw)