Defective Products Lawsuits Claimed Against IKEA for Deaths to Children

(Newswire.net — February 26, 2016) Philadelphia, PA —It is the stuff of parents’ nightmares. Jackie Collas found her two-year-old son, Curren, lifeless beneath the Ikea dresser in their West Chester home. As little children are inclined to do, Curren was exploring by climbing the dresser when it toppled, crushing him to death. Collas is not alone in her grief. The U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) tells us that a child dies every two weeks from furniture tipovers. Despite efforts to publicize the issue, many children still die and parents still suffer. Getting the attention of manufacturers often means finding competent legal help to wage the war against defective products. Ms. Collas and her attorney have filed a lawsuit against Ikea claiming defective design and insufficient warnings. Though Ikea is fully cooperating with the CPSC to provide additional, free anchor kits, many times purveyors of defective products only take notice when lawsuits threaten their bottom line.

Two toddler deaths within a year from the same Ikea dresser, the MALM unit, have stirred the CPSC to a campaign warning parents about the dangers of tipovers from defective products. In Washington state, a two-year-old died when a MALM dresser toppled in June, 2014, just months after Collas’s two-year-old died from a similar accident that February. Both families are suing Conshocken-based Ikea for knowingly selling a defective product and not sufficiently warning parents of the danger.

Ikea is cooperating with the CPSC to provide warnings and free anchor kits that fasten the MALM unit to a wall. The anchor kits are in the assemble-it-yourself dresser kit, but many parents fail to firmly attach the dresser.

Lawsuits for defective products are often the only way to get manufacturers to address issues like tipovers and poor design. Families struggling to recover from the grief and tragedy of an injured or dead child may not realize they can sue the responsible manufacturers according to the product liablility lawsuit for the damages, pain and suffering, and costs incurred from dangerous merchandise, shoddily designed furniture, or defective products.

The Ikea dresser illustrates two important aspects of defective products: it is poorly designed (the MALM dresser is likely to tip forward) and it does not provide sufficient warnings (to prevent tipover, MALM’s anchor kit must be used). Improper instruction in correct product use also makes a product defective.