Another wrongful death lawsuit has been filed against Ikea over a tipped dresser. The parents of a toddler allege that Ikea knowingly sold unstable dressers, one of which led to a fatal accident after tipping onto their son. The suit was filed in the Philadelphia Common Pleas Court. Philly.com reports that this is the second […]
Another wrongful death lawsuit has been filed against Ikea over a tipped dresser. The parents of a toddler allege that Ikea knowingly sold unstable dressers, one of which led to a fatal accident after tipping onto their son. The suit was filed in the Philadelphia Common Pleas Court. Philly.com reports that this is the second recent lawsuit of its kind. Another suit was filed by the mother of a 2-year-old who became pinned under a dresser in February 2014.
The suit alleges Ikea dressers do not comply with furniture industry safety standards for stability. Ikea responded to the accusation in October, telling The Inquirer it believes dressers do not have to meet such standards. According to the lawsuit, the 3-drawer Malm dresser tipped over on June 11, 2014, pinning their son. His father removed the dresser and his mother performed CPR before transporting him to a hospital. He was taken off life support after four days of ventilation. The suit seeks compensatory and punitive damages for medical expenses, funeral expenses, their son’s pain and suffering, and the family’s emotional distress.
In addressing the deaths of both boys, Ikea announced a joint “repair program” with the Consumer Product Safety Commission in July offering replacement restraint kits. The program, which involves 27 million dressers, is technically a type of recall according to the safety commission’s laws. However, Ikea has purposely avoided calling the action a recall, stating that it has not offered to replace or buy back the dressers.