Lawsuit:IKEA to blame for dresser's deadly tip-over

Philadelphia Daily News ^ | 05/26/2015 | Dana DiFilippo

[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.

[Kid Shelleen]

Sad story. I don't know much about the law suit but I posted this story as a cautionary tale for people that have young children or grand children around the house.
I have bought a few bookshelves from Target and Home Depot and they always seem to have some hardware to secure the dresser if so desired.

[JoeProBono]

[Mrs. Don-o]

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.

[Greysard]

I have bought a few bookshelves from Target and Home Depot and they always seem to have some hardware to secure the dresser if so desired.

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.

[matt04]

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.

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

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?

[al baby]

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

[RginTN]

Guess parental supervision is not a top priority for these parents. They want the money so they blame ikea

[Kid Shelleen]

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.

[faithhopecharity]

Just imagine the litigation bonanza if the dresser had a cup of mcD’s coffee on top?

[USNBandit]

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.

[FoxInSocks]

It's why irons come with warnings to not iron clothing while you're wearing it!

[stylin19a]

local verdict. Unless they settle, IKEA will probably appeal

[cizinec]

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.

[PhilDragoo]

Pottery Barn Parenting requires more than coupling.

[RightOnTheBorder]

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.

[Scrambler Bob]

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.

[Kid Shelleen]

One of pet peeves is that manufacturers have so many warnings they sometimes skimp on the useful information needed to assemble products.
A good reporter would have have done some basic research to see if the products used by the plaintiff had any warnings.

[SkyDancer]

Who was watching the kid? Do dressers become tired and want to lay down?

[Swordmaker]

First two pages of the instructions for the Malm chest of drawers that comes with the kit, which includes 31 languages:

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.