The US lawyers are nothing but incompetent ar$eholes when it comes to stuff like this. I am surprised Textron Lycoming are not also named, they make aircraft engines too ya know!!!
I met the owners of an industrial gearbox manufacturing company over there a few years back, they explained why their insurance costs were spiralling up, and one reason was they got sued in a case like this when a farmer did something stupid (completely stupid) and the machine manufacturer had used a gearbox similar to one they made, but not even of their manufacture. Of course they did not get nailed in the end, but the cost in defending yourself for something this silly was huge, really huge!
So yeah, its likely the paint supplier will be next!
J
