Harbor Freight faces Olathe man’s lawsuit over breaker bar accident

May 26, 2023

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A project to rotate the tires on his GMC Sierra pickup led to an Olathe man losing sight in his left eye — an accident he blames on a defective tool he bought from Harbor Freight.

Nick Geraci filed suit in Kansas federal court on Feb. 17 against Harbor Freight, accusing the retailer of producing and selling a faulty breaker bar. The tool is a Pittsburgh Pro 3/8-inch drive ratcheting breaker bar with 18-inch handle. It’s designed to create more leverage to “break loose” nuts and bolts that are extremely tight.

While using the breaker bar to loosen a lug nut on his truck, the lawsuit claims that the metal in the ratcheting mechanism suddenly fractured, sending jagged pieces of metal flying into Geraci's left eye.

The injury resulted in pain, suffering, disfigurement and loss of eyesight in that eye, the lawsuit says. He has gone through several surgeries already and says he will require additional medical procedures.

“Defendant Harbor Freight received notice that its ratcheting breaker bars like the one purchased by Plaintiff Nick Geraci were defective and unreasonably dangerous at least in part because many of its customers posted reviews on Harbor Freight’s own website to report that their breaker bars broke in the same way that Plaintiff’s did on January 2, 2022,” the lawsuit states. “In fact, some consumers even posted photographs of the failure to their breaker bars directly onto Harbor Freight’s website, and their pictures reveal a fracture almost identical to the one that caused Nick Geraci’s injuries.”

The lawsuit also claims that Harbor Freight knew about the defects because it received several products that were returned by customers asking for a refund or replacement.

Benjamin Fields of the Fields Law Firm in Kansas City represents Geraci, who seeks actual damages, punitive damages, interest and court costs.

Craig Hoffman, Harbor Freight's director of corporate communications and content, said it’s company policy not to comment on ongoing litigation.