Home | Business News | Browse by Publication | T | Trial

Hidden burn hazards at home: litigating claims for children burned by seemingly innocuous household products poses unique challenges.

Article Excerpt
The litany of burn hazards hiding in the typical home is long enough to surprise even the most experienced trial attorney. Very often, the victims of dangerous household products are children. Many of these products are rendered dangerous by a design that places responsibility for avoiding harm on the user.

While many products are subject to government regulations and industry standards, compliance is not often enforced. Even compliance does not guarantee safety. Some products that regulatory agencies acknowledge are too hazardous for the market remain available for purchase despite having been recalled, since recalls don't automatically remove a product from the market. Rather, they impose an obligation on the manufacture to notify the consumer of the potential danger. The most insidious products either are or look like toys, and thus lure unsuspecting children toward harm.

Products liability claims arising from burn injuries to children at home pose unique challenges. But there are tools you can use to develop theories of liability against the manufacturers of such products and ways to address typical defenses.

Regulations and standards

The definition of defect differs from state to state, but products are generally considered defective if they fail to perform as reasonably expected for their intended use. (1) Safety regulations and standards can provide direct support for allegations concerning defective design, inadequate warnings, and negligence in the development and testing of a product.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from more than 15,000 types of consumer products. (2) It helps consumers evaluate the comparative safety of products by developing safety standards and disseminating information about dangerous products. (3) Unfortunately, the CPSC's enforcement activity has decreased in the past few years, and more dangerous products are reaching retail shelves. (4) Nonetheless, the CPSC remains a good resource.

Even if the product involved in your client's injury is not directly regulated by the government, many nongovernmental organizations establish safety standards for products. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI), Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. (UL), and the American Society of Safety Engineers issue voluntary safety standards for thousands of products. Industry standards can effectively reveal the defects in household products and the manufacturers' failures in designing and testing them.

Common dangers

These are common scenarios in which children suffer product-related burns at home:

Mattresses and mattress pads. Suzie and Sally, both eighth graders, decided to try their first cigarette while sitting on Sally's bed. When Sally leaned over to hand the cigarette to Suzie, it dropped on the mattress pad, and before either girl could pick it up, the mattress pad burst into flames. Both girls were severely burned.

CPSC rules provide a basis for establishing the liability of the mattress pad manufacturer: The pad was highly flammable in violation of 16 Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.A.), part 1632. (5) Recognizing that cigarettes can come in contact with mattresses and mattress pads under a variety of circumstances, including a smoker falling asleep, the CPSC...

View this article FREE - Now for a Limited Time, try Goliath Business News
Free for 3 Days!