Following the recall of more than 2 million drop-side cribs last week, a mounting number of Stork Craft crib lawsuits have surfaced.  The U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) announced the Stork Craft drop side crib recall last Monday, November 24, which was the largest crib recall in U.S. history.

 

About 2 million Stork Craft drop side cribs and another 147,000 Fisher-Price drop sidecribs, which were also made by Stork Craft Manufacturing, Inc., were included in the recall

A wrongful death lawsuit was filed last week against the Canadian children’s furniture company in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, according to a report in The Advertiser. The complaint was filed by the parents of 7-month-old Reese Morgan, who suffocated in one of the recalled Stork Craft cribs after becoming trapped between the mattress and drop-side rail.

There is also at least one other lawsuit over a death in a Stork Craft crib, which was filed last year in West Virginia. According to a report in the West Virgina Record, that complaint was filed by the family of Carter Michael Pack, who suffocated in his Stork Craft drop side crib in 2007.

The U.S. CPSC indicated that the defective cribs could:

• allow a dangerous gap to develop between the drop-side of the crib and the mattress, where an infant may become trapped.
• Parents have been urged to immediately stop using the cribs and contact Stork Craft to receive a free repair kit that will change the crib from a drop-side crib to a fixed-side crib.

The CPSC and Health Canada have received:

• 110 reports where the drop-side detached
• including at least 15 cases where infants were entrapped
• 20 cases where children fell from the cribs
• 4 reports involved infant deaths in the cribs, all involving children 9-months old or younger who suffocated

In addition to the wrongful death lawsuits, at least six Stork Craft class action lawsuits have been filed across Canada on behalf of parents who bought the cribs and want their money back. While the company has offered a free repair kit, attorneys on behalf of the plaintiffs in Canada say that parents do not feel safe using the cribs, even with the repair kit offer.

If you or someone that you know have been injured or worse as a result of using a drop-side crib, please contact the law offices of Houssiere, Durant & Houssiere, LLP to set up a free consultation with an attorney and medical expert. The attorneys and medical staff at Houssiere Durant and Houssiere LLP have decades of experience in bringing successful suits in wrongful death claims.