Children across the country are injured every day from defective toys and other products designed specifically for use by children. The law holds manufacturers of products responsible for their safe construction and design. When a product is designed for use by children, this responsibility is especially important.
Many toys and children’s products have been found to be defective or unreasonably dangerous as a result of the use of toxic or even lethal substances in their construction or decoration. In the past, many toys and children’s products, including baby bottles and sipping cups, contained Bisphenol A (or BPA), a chemical commonly found in certain plastics. After concern was voiced by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2010 over the safety of certain levels of BPA in such products, most manufacturers ceased their use of BPA in products such as baby bottles and sipping cups.
Just recently, the European Commission imposed limits on the amount of BPA manufacturers may use to make certain toys. The Commission also set a limit on the amount of BPA allowed to “migrate” from the packaging of a product to the product itself. In the United States, though children’s pacifier nipples are reportedly no longer made with BPA, the plastic holders surrounding the pacifier nipples are still made with the substance.
When a child’s toy or other children’s product is sold without adequate warnings or instructions or is defectively manufactured or designed, the manufacturer and others in the chain of the product’s or toy’s distribution may be held liable in an action for product-liability for injuries sustained by a child as a result of the defect. Nationally-recognized child-injury lawyer Jeffrey Killino is dedicated to seeking justice for children who have been injured in this manner and was personally responsible for a court order compelling toy manufacturer, Mattel, Inc., to provide free lead-poisoning testing to all children who may have been affected by 1.5 million toys.
If your child was injured or killed through the use of a defective toy or other children’s product, attorney Killino and his team of accident lawyers, personal-injury lawyers, wrongful-death lawyers, defective-toy lawyers, defective children’s products lawyers, and child-injury lawyers can help you obtain compensation through legal action from those responsible for your child’s injuries.
Legal Liability for Injuries Caused by Defective Toys and Other Children’s Products
Federal regulations impose strict standards to ensure the safety of children’s toys. The Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC), under the Code of Federal Regulations, prescribes specific requirements for the safe manufacture, design, and labeling of toys. When a manufacturer, designer, or labeler of children’s toys fails to comply with these regulations—or otherwise releases a defective toy to the public—the manufacturer and others in the toy’s chain of distribution may be held liable under product-liability law for injuries sustained by a child as a result of the product’s defect.
Liability for Injuries Caused by a Toy’s Defective Design
A child’s toy may be designed in a way that renders the toy unsafe for its intended use. A tricycle designed with unsteady wheels, for example, may be considered defective if the tricycle regularly tips and injures its riders due to the unsteadiness incorporated in its design. The designer of such a tricycle, as well as the manufacturer and others in the chain of the tricycle’s distribution, may be found liable in a product-liability action for injuries sustained by a child as a result of the tricycle’s design defect.
Liability for Injuries Caused by a Toy’s Defective Manufacture
A child’s toy may be safely designed but defectively manufactured. If a toy is designed to be made with non-toxic substances but is manufactured with different, toxic substances, the toy may be found to contain a manufacturing rather than design defect. If a child sustains an injury as a result of ingestion or other contact with such toxic substances, the manufacturer and others in the chain of the toy’s distribution may be found liable for the damages suffered by the child as a result of his or her injuries.
Liability for Injuries Caused by a Failure to Warn
If a toy or other children’s product is made unreasonably dangerous for use by a child as a result of the absence of adequate warnings or instructions regarding the toy’s safe and proper use, the manufacturer and others in the chain of the toy’s distribution may be held liable for injuries sustained by a child as a result of such failure to adequately warn or instruct. If, for example, warnings regarding the appropriate age group for use of a particular toy are not provided with the toy, the manufacturer and others in the toy’s chain of distribution may be found liable in a product-liability action for injuries sustained by a child who uses the toy and who does not fall within the age group for which the toy is considered safe.
Certain toys may also be rendered unsafe for a child’s use by the absence of adequate instructions for the toy’s safe and proper use or installation. If, for example, a toy that requires assembly does not include clear and adequate instructions for the toy’s proper and safe assembly and a child is injured as a result of the toy’s improper assembly, the manufacturer and others in the toy’s chain of distribution may be held liable for the damages suffered by the child as a result.
Obtain Expert Assistance from Nationally-recognized Child-injury Attorney Jeffrey Killino
If your child has been injured or killed by playing with a defective toy or by using a defective children’s product, nationally-recognized child-injury attorney Jeffrey Killino can help you obtain the justice to which you and your family are entitled. Attorney Killino and his team of accident attorneys, personal-injury attorneys, wrongful-death attorneys, defective-toy attorneys, defective children’s products attorneys, and child-injury attorneys will provide you with expert assistance in seeking compensation from those responsible for your child’s injuries or death.
