Defective Product Fisher-Price Rock ‘n Play Sleepers Linked to Over 100 Infant Deaths
Fatal Defective product Case
Important Information About The Defective Product Recall of The Fischer Price Rock & Play Sleeper
As a personal injury lawyer with over 50 years of experience, I feel it is important to bring attention to the urgent plea made by the chair of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Alexander Hoehn-Saric, regarding the recalled Fisher-Price Rock ‘n Play sleeper. Despite the recall of this baby product in 2019 after 30 children died due to rolling from their back to their stomach or side while unrestrained, hundreds of recalled Rock ‘n Play sleepers are sold every month on Facebook Marketplace and other secondhand sites. This is a serious concern as the CPSC has confirmed that at least 70 more infant deaths had been reported in connection to the sleeper, bringing the total to over 100.
Hoehn-Saric has sent letters to both Meta, the parent company of Facebook, and Mattel, the maker of the Fisher-Price Rock ‘n Play sleeper, calling on the companies to do more to ensure the sleeper is not used by consumers. He noted that the majority of secondhand listings for Rock ‘n Play sleepers are found on Facebook Marketplace, and Facebook is uniquely positioned to identify recalled and violative products like the Rock ‘n Play and stop their sale before they are listed. Hoehn-Saric also called on Mattel to reannounce the recall and offer consumers more of an incentive to stop using the sleepers.
It is illegal to sell or distribute the recalled sleepers, and Fisher-Price has worked diligently to remove all recalled products from the market. However, as a personal injury lawyer, I believe that Fisher-Price clearly has not done enough to incentivize consumers to act upon the recall, and neither have the company’s actions deterred a secondary market for this defective product. It is incumbent on Fisher-Price to motivate consumers to stop using the Rock ‘n Play and to destroy unused Rock ‘n Plays that may be in their homes. A refund of the full purchase price of all Rock ‘n Plays would be a good start in achieving these outcomes.
As a reminder, safe sleep guidelines from both the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics say that caregivers should always place infants to sleep on their backs on a firm, flat surface without any pillows, blankets or bumpers, and that infants should not be placed on inclined products for sleep.
The Fisher-Price Rock ‘n Play sleeper has become a tragic case study in the legal and ethical responsibility of companies to ensure product safety. As a personal injury attorney, I am committed to holding companies accountable for their negligence and protecting the rights of consumers. If you or someone you know has lost a child due to a defective product, it is important to contact the Scranton Law Firm. Our law firm has recovered more than $500,000,000 for injured clients with a history of taking on big corporations. We urge you to get in contact with us and hold these companies accountable for their negligence.