What Happens When a Robot Causes Wrongful Death?

In a news report that sounds like it came directly from a science fiction thriller, a workplace robot recently caused the death of a female employee. Technology has long been the impetus for change and innovation in our country, but this woman’s death and her family’s subsequent wrongful death lawsuit give rise to an increasingly prevalent question in the court of law. What happens when wrongful death is directly caused by advanced technologies and artificial intelligence?

Wanda Holbrook’s Death

Before her death, Wanda Holbrook worked at Ventra Main, an auto parts factory in Michigan, as a maintenance technician. Her job required her to regularly perform maintenance duties on fixture tooling. On the day of her death in July 2015, she was called to inspect a malfunctioning unit on a trailer assembly line. According to the lawsuit, “Wanda was working in either section 140 or 150 within the ‘100’ cell, when a robot from section 130 took Wanda by surprise, entering the section she was working in. Upon entering the section, the robot hit and crushed Wanda’s head between a hitch assembly it was attempting to place in the fixture of section 140, and a hitch assembly that was already in the fixture.”

Wrongful Death Complaint Against Five Companies

In the face of this sudden, unexpected, and preventable death, Wanda’s husband William filed a wrongful death lawsuit against five companies: the three companies that built the robot (Fanuc America, Nachi Robotic, and Lincoln Electric) and the two companies that installed and serviced the unit (Flex N Gate, Prodomax). According to William Holbrook, these companies failed to prevent an accident that could have been avoided with better safeguards in place.

As the lawsuit states, Flex N Gate and Prodomax installed safety doors that, had they been working properly, would have prevented that robot from moving into Wanda’s unit and crushing her skull. “The robot from section 130 should have never entered section 140, and should have never attempted to load a hitch assembly within a fixture that was already loaded with a hitch assembly. A failure of one or more of defendant’s’ safety systems or devices had taken place, causing Wanda’s death.”

Now, Holbrook’s widower is pursuing this lawsuit, seeking unspecified damages for claims of product liability and breach of implied warranty. The lawsuit raises the important questions of who should be held responsible when robots injure or kill humans, especially since the Occupational Safety and Health Administration reported that 33 workplace deaths and injuries resulted from robots in the last 30 years. That number is likely to grow as artificial intelligence becomes more prevalent. The debate will continue over whether the owner or operator of an autonomous drone or robot should be held responsible for such a failure, or whether the robot can be held to blame itself.