Now that the holiday season is upon us, there are lots of reasons to buy gifts for your loved ones. As you’re purchasing toys for the little ones in your life, it’s important to make sure that you are keeping those in your care safe! Here at Ann Brown Legal, we work with parents when their children are injured. It’s important to think of the many ways children can be injured in the day-to-day, including when they’re having fun! As you’re buying for those that are close to you around this holiday season, be mindful of the gifts you choose.
According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, over 225,000 children were injured in 2018 by their toys. As you’re buying toys, there are a few things you can do to screen the products keep your children safe. One general guideline is checking the age appropriateness on the packaging. If you’re buying for especially young children, you should check to see if there are any small parts of the toy that might be swallowed. Check the labels for approval from the Consumer Product Safety Commission or the American Society for Testing and Materials, and check if the toy company has published any warnings.
You can also be knowledgeable about past cases of recalled hazardous toys. Toys in the past and present have been recalled for a variety of reasons, though there are some common themes in the ways toys have caused significant injuries or death. One mistake made by companies is including toxic chemicals in the toys that are poisonous when ingested (like in the Aquadots toy case.) Buckyballs became famous for it’s hazardous magnets, as magnets can cause significant injury when swallowed. Other common themes are related to heat: for example, early Easy-Bake Ovens were recalled for getting too hot, and some iterations of the Hoverboard were recalled for bursting into flame. (If you want to know about toys which have recalled recently, you can click here for a list of recalled items for 2019.)
As with other personal injury cases, you must prove that the other party (the toy company, in this case) was at fault. If your child has been injured by a toy, it can be difficult to sue the manufacturing company for compensation, as you have to prove negligence. You must prove that the toy you purchased was either defective, improperly designed, or didn’t include sufficient instructions for use or to keep your child safe.
If your child has been injured by a defective toy and you need a personal injury lawyer, please call us at (319) 826-2250 for a free initial consultation.
The above information is meant to be helpful, but is not meant to replace the legal advice of an attorney with whom you have an attorney-client relationship.