Sen. Harry Reid sues makers of exercise band over eye injury

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and his wife, Landra Gould, filed a product liability lawsuit Tuesday in Clark County, Nevada, against the makers of a resistance exercise band that Reid said was behind an accident in January that injured his eye.

Reid, 75, and Gould are suing Hygenic Intangible Property Holding Co., The Hygenic Corp., and Performance Health LLC, with the lawsuit saying the companies "combined to create, manufacture, and market a defective product called TheraBand or Thera-Band exercise band," the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. Court documents say that Reid was exercising in his Henderson, Nevada, home on Jan. 1, 2015, with a TheraBand mounted to a "sturdy object in his bathroom. While in use, the TheraBand broke or slipped out of Mr. Reid's hand, causing him to spin around and strike his face on a cabinet."

The documents say Reid suffered "loss of vision in his right eye, a concussion, broken orbital bones, severe disfigurement and bruising to his face, hand injuries, facial lacerations, scarring, and broken ribs." The complaint says the defendants "knew or had constructive knowledge of the danger of injury to consumers, especially to the elderly, as a result of TheraBands breaking or slipping out of their hands while mounted to various sturdy objects," but failed to warn users. The suit includes a claim for loss of consortium and seeks an award of punitive damages, the Review-Journal reports.

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