$170K judgment issued in snowblower lawsuit

A jury verdict awarded an Altoona man more than $170,000 in a civil case heard by U.S. District Judge Kim R. Gibson this week at the federal courthouse on Washington Street in downtown Johnstown. 

Reynolds Alley was seeking a judgment in excess of $75,000 from the manufacturers of a snowblower he said was defective when it caused him numerous injuries during an incident more than four years ago. 

On Tuesday, a jury awarded Alley $15,532.74 for past medical expenses, plus an additional $155,000 for “past, present and future noneconomic damages,” according to court documents, which can include pain and suffering, embarrassment and humiliation, loss of ability to enjoy the pleasures of life and disfigurement. 

Alley was attempting to inflate a tire on his snowblower on Jan. 19, 2015, when the tire rim “catastrophically failed and burst,” causing severe damage to his hands, according to a complaint he filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. 

Alley claimed the snowblower and the tire rim were “dangerous and defective,” but were sold to him nonetheless. The defendants, the manufacturers of the snowblower, were a group of related companies listed in Alley’s complaint as MTD Products Inc., MTD Products LTD., MTD Holdings Inc. and MTD Consumer Group Inc. 

Alley was represented by attorney Jason M. Schiffman of Pittsburgh, while MTD Products Inc. was represented by attorneys Brett W. Farrar and Frederick W. Bode III, of Pittsburgh.