Alton Defective Children’s and Baby Product Lawyers
Strong advocacy for Illinois families whose children have suffered injuries
Parents have the right to expect that the products they buy for their newborns, infants, and toddlers will be safe and work as advertised. Manufacturers, distributors, and sellers of baby products and children’s products have a duty to use quality designs and craftsmanship in their products. The instructions and warnings about using these products should be clear.
When these products fail, the consequences can be catastrophic or fatal because newborns and children don’t know how to respond to dangers and because their small size makes them prone to more serious accidents. At Glisson Law, our seasoned product liability lawyers have 25 years of experience fighting for personal injury victims. We file product liability, breach of warranty, and negligence claims against manufacturers and others in the supply chain who prioritize their profits over your child’s health.
How can we help?
- What laws and agencies regulate child products?
- What types of products cause injuries to newborns and children?
- Which injuries are most common for children and babies?
- How do I file a claim against the makers and sellers of defective children’s products?
- How much is my child’s baby and child product defect claim worth?
- Do you have a product liability lawyer near me?
What laws and agencies regulate child products?
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has oversight over the safety of children’s products. Products that are designed and intended to be used for and by children are considered “children’s products” and are subject to children’s product safety rules. Some of the factors that the CSPC will consider when evaluating whether a product is a children’s product include:
- The manufacturer’s label
- The packaging, promotion, advertising, and display of the product
- The common use of the product
The color, decorative motifs, size, features, and play value also help indicate whether a product is considered a “children’s product.”
The authority of the CPSA comes from The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), the Consumer Product Safety Act, the Child Safety Protection Act, and federal consumer product safety laws.
These laws regulate different products including products that might cause choking, testing and certification requirements, product durability, toy safety, lead, phthalates, tracking labels, imports, ATVs, and other products.
What types of products cause injuries to newborns and children?
Manufacturers should know the risks involved with the use of their products especially risks that can seriously harm or kill a child such as choking, suffocation, strangulation, and burn injuries.
Some of the many types of child product defect claims we’re ready to handle include defective:
- Clothing. Children’s clothing may be defective if it is flammable, causes choking (such as if a child eats a button), can cause a child to strangle, or is dangerous in other ways.
- Car and boosters seats. There are generally federal and state regulations that regulate how these products should be made and how they should work. If seatbelts and latches fail to work, your child could be seriously injured or die.
- Furniture. Cribs and playpens can be dangerous because they can fall apart or collapse. If they’re not properly enclosed, a newborn or child could fall. Children could even become trapped in the bars and choke.
- Playground equipment. Toddlers and young children can easily fall, be struck, or injured when slides, swings, climbing objects, railings, and other equipment fail to work properly.
Other types of children’s products known to be dangerous include inclined rockers and sleepers, strollers, walkers, trampolines, highchairs, and many other products. Any item that can be ingested may cause choking or may cause lead poisoning or phthalate exposure which can result in brain damage.
Toys are known to be very dangerous. According to the CPSC, there were more than 200,000 toy-related injuries that were treated in U.S. hospital emergency departments in 2021. Nearly three-quarters of these injuries involved children 14 and under, 69 percent involved children 12 and under, and 37 percent involved children four and under. The head and face were the most commonly treated areas. While most children were treated and released, many children required additional medical care.
Which injuries are most common for children and babies?
Defective children’s products may cause serious injuries to children including:
- Brain damage
- Choking, suffocation, and strangulation
- Poisoning
- Broken bones/fractures
- Nerve, muscle, ligament, and tissue damage
- Burns
- Spinal cord injuries
- Hearing loss
- Vision loss
- Organ failure
- Drowning
- Other injuries
How do I file a claim against the makers and sellers of defective children’s products?
Many products for babies and children are known to be dangerous because of prior recalls and lawsuits. The CPSC has an online list of products that have been recalled and the proposed remedies. Manufacturers can also issue their own recalls. Many products are known to be dangerous because of past and current class action lawsuits, personal injury, and product liability lawsuits.
If a product defect causes your child harm or tragically causes your child to die, we file:
- Product liability claims. Manufacturers can be held strictly liable if their product is defective due to faulty design, workmanship, instructions, or lack of warnings - and the defect causes harm or death.
- Breach of warranty claims. At Glisson Law, we file claims when manufacturers make promises about the safety of a product that are untrue.
- Personal injury claims. We file claims against the makers of children’s products if the makers failed to comply with industry standards or were negligent in any way.
We also file wrongful death claims if your newborn or child tragically dies due to a defective child’s product.
How much is my child’s baby and child product defect claim worth?
Many children suffer permanent and catastrophic injuries. Even when injuries heal, there may be complications. Children need to work with doctors who are trained to diagnose and treat their injuries with an eye toward their development into adults. We work with the treating doctors and our own network of doctors if necessary to fully understand the current and future care your child will need and all the ways your child’s life is affected by his/her injuries.
We demand compensation for your child’s:
- Medical expenses, including surgeries, doctor visits, rehabilitation, psychological care, assistive devices, and medications.
- All your child’s daily physical pain and emotional suffering
- Any scarring or disfigurement
- Any loss of bodily function
If your child has any type of work history, we’ll file a claim for lost income.
If the manufacturer of the product egregiously failed to protect your child, such as failing to comply with a CPSC recall, we may seek punitive damages.
If your child tragically died due to a defective children’s product, we file a wrongful death claim on behalf of the parents. A wrongful death claim includes the cost of the funeral and burial, any financial damages, and the personal and emotional damages due to the death of your child. Let us help your child today.
Do you have a product liability lawyer near me?
Glisson Law is located at 111 East Fourth Street, Suite 400, in Alton, IL. We’re close to City Hall, and you can find plenty of parking across the street. You can also reach our office by bus. We do make home and hospital visits if you cannot travel to us.
We’ll fight for your child as if he/she is one of our own.
Contact our children’s product injury lawyers now
There’s nothing more traumatic than watching your child be in pain. Our personal injury attorneys work with product safety professionals, investigators, physicians, and others to show why a child’s product was defective and why your child’s injuries are so severe. Glisson Law can begin to help you today. We’ve earned the respect of former clients and insurance companies for our strong record of successful settlements and verdicts. Contact us today by calling our office or using our contact form to schedule a free consultation. We proudly represent parents and children who live in Belleville, Edwardsville, St. Clair and Madison County, and all of Illinois and Missouri.