Unsecured IKEA Furniture Causes Two Deaths

Posted in Product Liability,Wrongful Death on September 22, 2015

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, a child dies every 2 weeks and another is injured every 24 minutes in the U.S. as a result of furniture or TVs tipping over.

Furniture giant IKEA has now issued safety warnings regarding their Malm dressers, which have been available for purchase since 2002. “Consumers should immediately stop using all IKEA children’s chests and drawers taller than 23.5 inches and adult chests and drawers taller than 29.5 inches, unless they are securely anchored to the wall,” read the company’s statement. IKEA is providing anchoring kits at no charge in stores and on their website.

This safety warning came about after two children were killed in separate incidents as a result of an IKEA dresser tipping over and crushing them. IKEA is now facing a wrongful death lawsuit from one of the victim’s families. The victim’s mother filed the lawsuit claiming that the dresser lacked proper warnings, and has a defective and dangerous design. In addition to the 2 deaths, there have been at least 14 recent reports of Malm dressers tipping over, 4 of which resulted in injuries.

Furniture manufacturers need to do all they can to alert Americans to the dangers of their products, including written warnings on the product and providing safety hardware in the product packaging, if necessary. Companies that neglect to do this will surely find themselves hit with product liability lawsuits, and possibly wrongful death lawsuits.

If you are in the Houston area, and have been the victim of a faulty product of any kind, contact The Freeman Law Firm today. The personal injury attorneys at our firm will fight to get you the compensation you deserve.

Read original article here.