Sleepwalker's death potentially presents an interesting product-liability claim
Jan 15th, 2009 by Mark Cohen
A potentially very interesting lawsuit is presented by the case of the 51-year-old Hayward, Wis., electrician who froze to death while sleepwalking barefoot in his underwear in subzero temperatures. The Star Tribune reports that Timothy Brueggeman had a history of insomnia and was a known user of Ambien. Ambien, as you probably recall, is the drug that features all sorts of (albeit rare) bizarre side effects, including sleepwalking, sleep eating and even sleep driving. The Strib reports that Brueggeman had a past episode of sleep driving after taking Ambien last summer, and supposedly had sworn the drug off. But investigators found an empty Ambien bottle in his room.
One can immediately spot enough legal issues for a bar exam question, including:
– Did he take the Ambien? (I assume a toxicology report would be helpful here)
– Did the Ambien spawn the sleepwalking episode if he did? (Given the documented history of both the drug and his reaction to it, it seems likely if it was in his system);
– What of the fact that empty beer cans were also found in his duplex? (A possible causation issue here given the likelihood that the defense would argue alcohol was a contributing or even superseding factor, but it’s certainly not an insurmountable problem. I don’t think a jury would likely attribute the sleepwalking episode to alcohol given Ambien’s history and the decedent’s prior reaction to the drug.)
– Did the decedent’s own negligence contribute to his death? (A finding of negligence on the part of the decedent would be a distinct possibility if the the decedent did in fact take the Ambien despite knowing that he had a prior history of sleepwalking after taking the drug. However, I doubt a jury would put the lion’s share of the blame on the decedent. Thus, the decedent’s potential recovery might be reduced, but likely not erased by his own fault. )
Of course, at this point we don’t know whether or not Brueggeman was on Ambien, or if his family would opt to sue if it turns out he was. But if Ambien was in his system and the family decides to make a claim, I think the manufacturer would have a pretty tough time zeroing the family out. I don’t claim to be a genius in business matters, but I do know this much: If you’re a big drug company and someone freezes to death in the snow while apparently suffering a known side effect of your product, you might just want to think about the possibility of reaching a settlement rather than trying the case before his hometown jury. I don’t think it takes a Harvard MBA to figure that one out.
