An infant in Iowa died after ingesting a watch battery she discovered under the damaged kick plate of a dishwasher that the landlord had failed to repair despite repeated reminders, according to a new wrongful death complaint.
Haja Sesay and Barbejo Ziaty, Faith Ziaty’s parents, claim in their complaint that their apartment complex owner failed to fix a damaged kick plate under their dishwasher, where their daughter discovered and ate an old watch battery. The case, filed on August 17 in Iowa, demands unspecified damages for medical expenditures, pain and suffering, and other issues.
Conlin Properties, Inc., a defendant in the case, did not immediately respond to Law&Crime’s request for comment.
According to the lawsuit, the events leading up to the girl’s death began on September 27, 2022, when the family moved into their Des Moines apartment.
A Resident Move-In Inventory Sheet indicated that the dishwasher in the apartment needed to be fixed. The lawsuit claims that, despite verbal and written reminders regarding the problem with the kick plate, “the defendants failed to fix and/or replace it.”
“As a result of defendants’ negligence, Faith Ziaty unnecessarily suffered from preventable physical and mental pain and suffering, loss of function and death,” the lawsuit said.
According to the lawsuit, Faith Ziaty was less than a year old when she crawled into the kitchen, placed her hands under the dishwasher, and reached behind the shattered kick plate.
An antique watch battery was discovered among the debris. According to the lawsuit, the girl put the battery in her mouth and swallowed it.
The battery acid burned her esophagus, resulting in considerable bleeding. Her mother took the small girl across the street to a nearby veterinary clinic, where she was subsequently sent to the hospital.
She died the next morning.