Chicago Injury Lawyer Blog
Stork Baby Cribs and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (“CSPC”) announced the voluntary recall of more that 1,000,000 baby cribs in the United States and Canada last Wednesday January 14, 2009. The cribs, which were manufactured by Stork Craft Manufacturing Inc. of British Columbia, were made in Canada, China, and Indonesia. The baby crib recall is the result of ten reported incidents in which crib support brackets failed. In one reported occurrence, a young child was trapped between the mattress and side rail of a Stork crib. The baby cribs were sold from May 2000 through January 2009 at J.C. Penney, K-Mart, and other retail outlets in Illinois and around the country. The defective cribs were also sold online at amazon.com, babiesrus.com, Costco.com, and walmart.com. Similar Stork Crib failures have been reported in Canada according to Health Canada, the Canadian health care agency. Consumers should stop using the cribs immediately and contact Stork Craft for a free replacement kit containing a new mattress support and brackets.
The troubling defect in the baby cribs causes the metal mattress support to crack and break. When the bracket is compromised the mattress collapses, thereby creating a gap where a child could get trapped and suffocate. There has been one reported entrapment related injury from the defective cribs to date. The CPSC urges all parents and caregivers to cease using the recalled Stork cribs. In order to fully ensure child safety, Illinois parents should regularly inspect baby cribs for loose, broken, or missing hardware.
The presence of dangerous or defective products in the marketplace is very troubling, especially when those products are used by children. Manufacturers are required to produce safe products or otherwise provide adequate warning for unsafe features. Experienced Chicago dangerous product injury lawyer Joseph G. Klest has over twenty-four years of product liability experience. If you or a loved one has been harmed by a dangerous or defective product, contact Illinois injury lawyer Joe Klest for a free initial consultation.