A New Jersey teen who was injured in a fireworks accident last Fourth of July is suing the fireworks manufacturer and the friend who crossed state lines to buy $1,200 worth of fireworks. Fireworks are illegal in New Jersey.

According to court documents filed in Superior Court of Ocean County, 19-year-old Thomas Eldershaw was helping his friend set off fireworks at last year’s party when an aerial shell misfired, “sending a tennis-ball sized projectile into (his) eye and face.”  Eldershaw’s face was burned and he was left partially blind from the accident.

In the lawsuit, Eldershaw seeks unspecified damages and contends that the manufacturer, Sky King Fireworks, is liable in part because it signed a consent order several years earlier indicating that it would not solicit New Jersey residents to purchase fireworks in Pennsylvania.  The lawsuit states that on June 9, 2010, the store sold fireworks to Eldershaw’s friend without “clearly or conspicuously” disclosing their illegality.

According to news reports, a call to Sky King’s corporate headquarters in Florida was not returned.

“Consumer fireworks are safe when they’re used properly,” said Julie L. Heckman, executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association. “Typically, when something goes amiss it’s because the users didn’t follow the directions.”

—Source:  nj.com