Hallmark sued for house fire linked to snow globe
PETOSKEY, Mich. >> An insurance company is seeking $1.8 million from Hallmark Cards and another company over a defective snow globe blamed for a fire that destroyed a Michigan home.
The Jumbo Snowman snow globe was recalled in 2008, weeks after a fire destroyed Stephen and Florence Hajek’s Petoskey home. Federal regulators say the globe could act as a magnifying glass in the sun and cause a fire.
Auto-Owners Insurance paid $1.8 million after the home was destroyed. The Petoskey News-Review says the Hajeks own card stores and had snow globes in their garage.
The lawsuit accuses Hallmark and a Taiwan company of negligence, saying “inappropriate materials in the shell and interior fluid” of the globe caused an unsafe medium for sunlight to pass through.
A message was left Wednesday with Hallmark.
