A $27 million lawsuit has been filed in an Oregon court after a man lost his leg to an RV awning. Dometic, the manufacturer of the awning, Camping World, which sold and installed the awning, and the awning’s owner are all involved.
Traveling with friends, man lost his leg to an RV awning
It all goes back to August 2022, when Trevor Irish, the plaintiff in the suit, was traveling with friends along Oregon Highway 58, between Eugene and the Crescent Lake area. Irish was driving one of three vehicles that were traveling together. One of the cars overheated, and the group pulled onto the shoulder of the highway.
Irish was out of his van, checking tire pressure, when a Class A motorhome passed by on the highway. Driven by a Keizer, Oregon, resident, Charles Delong, the unthinkable happened. Delong’s awning, installed just a few months earlier, unfurled, striking Irish.
The unruly awning also hit one of the other vehicles and a trailered boat that was part of the group. Not knowing Irish had been hit, one of his friends set off in chase after Delong’s motorhome, trying to alert him to the issue.
The then 44-year-old Trevor Irish was seriously injured, severely cut on his arm, hand, and leg. He also had broken bones. Emergency responders sent him to a hospital on a medical evacuation helicopter. The damages to Irish’s right leg were so severe it had to be amputated below the knee.
Product liability suit seeks personal injury judgment
Earlier this month, Trevor Irish filed a $27 million suit in Multnomah County Circuit Court. In addition to the RVer, Charles Delong, the suit includes Dometic Corporation and Camping World.
The suit contends that Dometic built the awning in a way that lends itself to being improperly installed. It claims Camping World employees erred in their awning installation. It had been installed just four months before the accident.
Media reports indicate that neither Dometic nor Camping World would comment on the suit. The RVer could not be reached. Trevor Irish’s attorney, Neal Weingart, of Portland, Oregon, told Oregon Live, “We look forward to giving Trevor his day in court.” He continued, “The injury has been devastating to Trevor.”
An image filed as part of the lawsuit, presumably taken after the tragic incident, shows the awning arms bound with what appear to be ball bungees.
How about you? Have you ever had an awning fall off or witness one come loose while on the road? We’d like to share your experience with our readers. Please submit your experience using the box below—and please include any pictures you may have!
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Wow! What a terrible accident! Our awning, Fiamma, is curled up in a box, including the arms. Nothing is mentioned about the owner of the RV . Was it correctly stowed?
It sounds like the RV owner is also named in the suit. He should join the suit as a plaintiff against CW and Dometic if the awning was incorrectly installed. However, if the awning was in fact installed correctly but stowed incorrectly, the fault is 100% the RVer’s in which case, CW along with Dometic should be released from the suit.
I don’t think Dometic should be involved in the suit. Dometic includes installation instructions. This sounds more like a poor installation, very likely, or the awning was not completely closed.
I tend to agree.
THe only way to sue CW and Dometic is to sue the RVer. The lawyers or the court could limit the RVer’s negligence (not noticing the awning had deployed) to the policy limits. To get to the deep pockets everyone in the chain of events needs to be in the suit.
Just bought a 2019 Dutchmen TT and the owner warned me that the awning came unfurled when he was towing it. He recommended large zip ties securing the awning every time it’s towed down the highway. Is this common?
This is not common… but I do it all the time since 2016 after seeing one unfurl on Hwy 58 between Bakersfield & Las Vegas on some unsuspecting traveler in the opposite lane…03 39L
Anything involving CW is a disaster. One should always use straps to secure an awning…the older awnings I had never had these problems.
The first thing my dad taught me about awnings (back then they all were manual and had the folding arms) was to secure both arms with a sturdy strap.
Freakish and most unfortunate, but 27 million? And why is the rv owner off the hook?
Freakish is a very good description. I would like to know how the awning came loose and how it struck the victim. The RVer isn’t off the hook. According to the article (paragraph 6) he is being sued as well.
Manual or electric awning? I can’t think of bigger waste of money and potential for failure than an electric awning. Give me a manual awning every time. Never had a problem with ours, always locks in place. No motors to burn out, no switches or relays to fail. Simple to operate.
From picture looks like electric. Like you I want manual.
Difficult to understand what actually happened by this article. Did the entire awning become detached from the RV? If it unfurled how did his leg get injured.
Thank you, Russ and Tina! 🙂 Wow! That is tragic, especially for Trevor! Yikes! 😯🙁 I think that Cancelproof has it right. The owner should join the suit as he was wronged by the Camping World installation. But who gets omitted will turn on the established facts. Were Dometic’s instructions flawed, making it difficult to install properly? 🤔 Did the RVer stow the awning properly? 🤔 Did Camping World fail to follow instructions, causing an improper installation? 🤔 However this goes, Trevor has a lot from which to recover. I just hope this does not embitter him for years. 🤔 Thanks again, Russ and Tina! Have a great weekend, safe travels, and safe stays! 🙂
We lost our awning somewhere along I-39 in February 2022. Yes, it was installed & secured correctly, but extreme cold (-22°) led to metal fittings shearing off. Thank God we were in the right-hand lane in a rural area, or it could have been disastrous.
2007, Myrtle Beach, and with the awning out we drove our toad into town. While gone a very heavy wind and rain storm just came out if nowhere. The “gear box” (with plastic gears) lost some ‘teeth” but we got the awning to retract. YES, we realized you should never leave the awning out when not there.
The next day while crossing a very low 2 way bridge (a road just above a water inlet) winds came up again and “white caps” on the water all around us. Just as we left the bridge and back on land, the awning flew open. Had that happened on that bridge, it would have acted like a parachute and we would have ended up in the water. Duck taped up the awning after we got it back in place.
Awning manufactures should incorporate some sort of mechanical lock to tie the arms together when traveling. Even something like sash lock or heavy duty suitcase type latch would work. Even a pin through the arms on the closed position.
But, none of these will help if the bolts pull out due to improper installation.
Did the awning arms extend or did just the fabric unfurl, or did the whole drop from the roof line metal and all? Pics look like the arms opened allowing the fabric to fly free.
I had my manual 18′ awning begin to unfurl from the aft end and noticed it in the mirror. Stopped and tarp strapped to hold it until I could get to a quiet area to inspect. I have what is called a “center rafter” (optional center arm) which lifts the center of the awning up. It had slipped down allowing the wind to get into the protective aluminum awning cover. At the next campground I drilled a slanted hole and installed a 1-3/4″ steel pin thru it! It can’t slip down anymore! (I’ve seen two opened awnings).