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# Whirlpool burns customers
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/whirlpool-burns-customers/
- Published: 2002-09-16T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T00:44:14.000Z
- Author: John Wood
- Tags: Health, Venice, #archive-import

Erik Hattan and his wife May were burned in July 2001 when the thermostat on their new Whirlpool oven malfunctioned, sending temperatures to more than 700 degrees Fahrenheit.

Whirlpool must reimburse the Venice couple $4,808 for medical expenses. Hattan and his wife sued the appliance maker for $5,000 each, the maximum allowable small claims amount, saying they had endured more than $18,000 worth of corrective laser surgery in an attempt to conceal scars caused by the faulty oven.

“My scars have healed nicely, but my wife is scarred for life,” said Hattan, pointing to a silver-dollar-sized patch of darkened skin on his wife’s wrist. Hattan said they decided to sue after asking Whirlpool to reimburse them for medical bills and being stonewalled by company officials.

“They just ignored us, ignored us, ignored us,” he said. “They never stopped ignoring us.”

Santa Monica Superior Court Judge John H. Reid presided over the case because Whirlpool representatives didn’t want the matter heard by a pro tem judge, who are attorneys volunteering as judges for the day.

Whirlpool’s representative told the court the type of burns the Hattans sustained are usually the result of contact with a heated rack inside the oven and added that surgery was not necessarily the best remedy.

“Whirlpool’s position is that surgery would exacerbate” scars of this type, the female representative said.

Judge Reid asked the plaintiffs exactly how much they have spent and still owe on medical bills, not including compensation from insurance companies. Though the Hattans did not have that information on hand, the judge called a recess to allow them to gather it before handing down his decision.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 16, 2002.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/091602.pdf?ref=smdp.com)