Even parents who keep a close eye on their children while the children are awake are forced to trust that their children are safe while sleeping in their cribs. Yet, an estimated 181,654 children under the age of two were treated in U.S. emergency rooms during a 19-year period for injuries sustained in cribs, bassinets, and playpens, according to a study conducted by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Most of the injuries reported in this study (83.2%) occurred in cribs. Though the majority of these crib injuries resulted from falls, crib injuries may also result from a defect in a crib that poses strangulation, entrapment, or other hazards.
In July 2014, Oeuf LLC, of Brooklyn, New York, recalled approximately 14,000 of its Oeuf Sparrow Cribs, which were manufactured in Latvia between July 2007 and January 2014 and sold both online and at independent juvenile facility stores. The cribs were recalled after the company received reports that the top railing and some of the slats or spindles detach from the cribs. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the detachment of these parts poses an entrapment hazard for a child using one of the cribs. Oeuf has warned parents to immediately stop using the cribs and to contact the manufacturer for a free repair kit.
This recall should be taken very seriously by any parent or other consumer who owns and uses one of these cribs. The entrapment of a small child between the slats of a crib may cause serious injury, such as brain damage from asphyxiation, or death from strangulation. Who is responsible if a child is injured or killed as a result of a defect in a crib or other children’s product? The answer may depend upon several factors, including the state in which the particular accident occurred and the contribution of someone’s negligence to the child’s injury or death.
Child-injury attorney Jeff Killino is nationally recognized for his dedication to seeking justice for children injured or killed through someone’s negligence or the use of a defective children’s product. If your child has been injured or killed while using a defective crib or other children’s product, or through the negligence of someone entrusted with your child’s care, attorney Killino and his team of child injury and defective children’s products lawyers will help you obtain the justice to which you and your child are entitled from those responsible for your child’s injury or death.
Legal Liability for Injuries or Deaths Caused by Defective Cribs or Someone’s Negligence
Defective children’s products cause injuries and wrongful deaths to children, and the negligence of daycare centers or babysitters may often contribute to such injuries or deaths. Can both the manufacturer of a defective crib and a negligent daycare center or babysitter be held legally responsible for the same injuries or deaths of a child? Under the laws of most states, both these categories of defendants may be found liable for a child’s injury or death under certain circumstances.
Liability for Defective Crib or Other Children’s Product
Under most states’ laws, the manufacturer and others in the chain of a product’s distribution may be held liable for injuries or deaths caused by a defect in a product through the institution of a product-liability action. Though the law of product liability may vary from state to state, the law of most states allows for a finding of strict liability on the part of the product’s manufacturer, designer, assembler, distributor, retailer, and others in the product’s chain of distribution when the plaintiff is able to establish that a defect in the product exists and that the defect was a cause of the child’s injuries or death.
The defect leading to such liability may exist in the design or manufacture of the product, or in the failure to warn of certain dangers involved in the use of the product. The strict liability form of product-liability action allows the plaintiff to recover for injuries or deaths caused by such defects without proving negligence or even knowledge of the defect on the part of any of the defendants.
Negligence Liability
In some cases, the negligence of an individual or entity entrusted with the care of a child may also contribute to the injury or death of a child that is found to have been caused, in part, by the defect in a crib or other children’s product. A negligence or personal injury lawyer can help you obtain the compensation you deserve for such cases through the institution of a negligence or wrongful death action.
If, for example, a child’s caregiver is aware of a defect in a product and the caregiver nevertheless allows the child to use the product without supervision, the caregiver may also be held legally responsible for the child’s injury or death if it is determined that the child’s injury or death could have been prevented with adequate supervision by the caregiver. If the negligence of a daycare employee is found to have been a cause of the child’s injury or death, the daycare center itself may also be found indirectly (vicariously) liable for the injury or death caused by the negligence of its employee. If the daycare center is found to have been negligent in the hiring, screening, training, or retaining of the employee, the daycare center may be found directly liable, as well.
Obtain Expert and Compassionate Assistance from Child-injury Attorney Jeff Killino
You are entitled to compensation if your child has been injured or killed as a result of negligence or a defective product. If your child has been injured or killed in an accident caused by a defective crib or other children’s product or as a result of the negligence of a person or entity entrusted with your child’s care, nationally-recognized child-injury attorney Jeff Killino and his team of child accident and wrongful death attorneys will fight for the compensation you and your child deserve.
