Posted on 05/26/2015 3:18:33 PM PDT by Kid Shelleen
A West Chester woman whose toddler died after an IKEA dresser fell on him has sued the Scandinavian chain for wrongful death and negligence.
Curren Collas, 2, died Feb. 25, 2014, after he climbed the 136-pound MALM chest and it tipped over, pinning him against his bed, according to the products liability complaint filed last Thursday in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court.
(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...
I looked at the picture of the kid and my heat just broke.
I hope all parents heed this warning: secure dressers and other tall heavy furniture to the wall.
I have two bookshelves here (don't remember where they came from) and they did not have hardware to secure them. I used a power drill and long steel bolts to take care of that. This is CA, so everything has to be pretty stable, or else. Plenty of stores offer all kinds of brackets and straps.
Same here. I recently bought a book shelf, it had hardware to secure it to the wall and some sort of warning in the instructions.
How is this IKEAs fault? This reminds me of my piano keyboard that I have on a stand. My kid could climb on it and knock it over or it falls on him so I take it off the stand and put it in the case when I’m not using it. So if I wasn’t that safe and he did climb on it and was killed that’s Yamahas fault? This is exactly why we have 9 gabillion government regulations on everything from underwear to combs, this kind of stuff gives the government an excuse to stick its finger into anything when basic common sense is all that is needed. Did this person while they were setting this thing up not realize it could tip over? Really?
After northridge i spent the better part of 18 months strapping earthquake waxin every thing down for clients made a nice lil living doing it
Guess parental supervision is not a top priority for these parents. They want the money so they blame ikea
All good points. Still in these days it is hard to believe that IKEA did not have some type of warning. Of course this is the plaintiff’s side.
Just imagine the litigation bonanza if the dresser had a cup of mcD’s coffee on top?
IKEA stuff all has warnings and hardware included. I recently moved and my wife has brought a couple IKEA dressers home. The stuff is all made of MDF and is freakin’ heavy.
local verdict. Unless they settle, IKEA will probably appeal
Go to http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/customer_service/assembly_instructions.html#/10
Show me one of these dressers that does not include either a securing strap or wall bracket in the hardware list. Show me one that doesn’t have the tipping warning showing how to install the strap or bracket.
I would make a statement like, “Whatta I have ta do, draw ya a picture?” But that’s exactly what Ikea did and it still didn’t fix stupid.
Maybe she had the store assemble it for her and they failed to give her the hardware and instructions. Maybe. I’m very suspicious of this one.
I think blaming IKEA is easier on the parents than coming to terms with the fact that they left a two year old unsupervised for a (presumably) short time and a freak accident occurred. Combine that with a parasite lawyer and judges elected/chosen by parasite lawyers and Presto, IKEA gets to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars defending themselves.
IKEA did not have some type of warning —
Pretty sure my IKEA stuff has screws and brackets to fasten to wall.
But instructions are pictures. (Avoids printing in a jillion languages.)
Don’t remember the picture for the bracket installation, but intent was plain.
Who was watching the kid? Do dressers become tired and want to lay down?
ENGLISH
Important!
This furniture must be fixed to the wall with the enclosed wall fastener. Different wall materials require different types of fixing devices. Use fixing devices suitable for the walls in your home (not included). If you are uncertain about what type of screw or fitting to use, please con- tact your hardware store.
And instruction #17:
Yes, you cannot fix stupid.
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