Semiko Crump filed suit against I.S. Appliances, Inc., a Florida corporation, after suffering serious burn injuries on February 15, 2021, while using the company's Bon Appetit 7-Quart Electronic Pressure Cooker. The device's lid opened while still pressurized during normal use, ejecting hot contents that caused significant burns to Crump's chest and arms. The incident led to medical expenses exceeding $97,000 and permanent scarring requiring multiple skin graft surgeries.
Judge Lee found I.S. Appliances liable for negligent manufacture, failure to warn, and design defect after the company failed to respond to the lawsuit filed in February 2024. 'The pressure cooker had a 'safety feature' that locks the lid so that it cannot open once the unit is pressurized,' Lee wrote, but 'failure of the locking mechanism was a manufacturing defect and a design defect.' The court determined that I.S. Appliances' failure to warn that the lid did not actually lock while under pressure constituted an additional defect.
In describing the incident, Lee wrote that Crump 'believed the pressure cooker was depressurized and safe to open, opened it, and the hot contents spewed all over her, causing significant burns on her chest and arms.' The court found that I.S. Appliances had 'put the pressure cooker in the stream of commerce to Mississippi intentionally,' establishing both jurisdiction and liability under Mississippi product liability law.
The case proceeded as a default judgment after I.S. Appliances was served through its registered agent Sydney Silverman on February 27, 2024, but failed to respond. The court clerk entered default in July 2025, and Judge Lee granted default judgment on liability before conducting an evidentiary hearing on damages in March 2026. The total timeline from injury to judgment spanned more than five years.
I.S. Appliances offered no defense to Crump's claims that the pressure cooker was defectively designed and manufactured. The company had marketed the device as having safety features that would prevent the lid from opening while pressurized, but the court found these representations were false. Lee noted that the company's absence from the proceedings meant Crump's well-pleaded allegations were 'assumed to be true' for purposes of establishing liability.
The court awarded Crump the maximum $1 million in non-economic damages allowed under Mississippi law, finding her request 'reasonable and not excessive' based on her testimony about ongoing pain, anxiety, depression, and permanent disfigurement. As Lee explained, 'she testified that the burns caused significant pain and she had to undergo painful skin graft surgeries; that she has extensive scarring and has anxiety as a result of the treatment and scarring; and that the burn incident caused her mental health issues such as depression.'
The $1.097 million total judgment includes $97,256.07 in documented medical expenses plus the $1 million non-economic award. Lee also ordered I.S. Appliances to pay post-judgment interest at 3.68 percent and reasonable court costs. The ruling demonstrates the significant financial exposure manufacturers face when safety devices fail and companies choose not to defend product liability claims.