Failing to properly close a quick release is certainly foreseeable. It is not an uncommon thing to happen. The user is expected to loosen and tighten that quick release as part of the normal operation of the bike, when fixing flats, using bike racks, etc so there are many opportunities to have a problem.
In the event that happens, the "lawyer lips" provide some protection against the failure mode of the axle falling out of the dropout.
But having a quick release that opens so far creates a different failure mode, of the lever getting trapped in the disc, and there is no mechanism to protect against that.
There is no reason to have so much lever travel, it doesn't have any benefit. So additional risk, a new failure mode, has been created, for no additional benefit. If the engineers didn't see this failure mode, that is sloppy. If they recognized it but didn't specify lever travel limits, that is sloppy. If they specified it, but whoever procured the quick release didn't follow the spec, that is sloppy.
From what I read elsewhere, there is nothing new about the QR levers in question in that they are the older style enclosed mechanism devices that are touted to be better at securing the wheel than the newer exposed cam style.
Why have we not heard of this problem if these skewers have been used with front discs for such a long long time?
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Bacchetta Giro A20, RANS V-Rex, RANS Screamer