If your baby was harmed or fatally injured as a result of sleeping in a Fisher-Price and Mattel Rock ‘n Play Sleeper, fill out the form to find out your rights. »
Hagens Berman is actively prosecuting claims on behalf of several families relating to infant deaths and injuries in the Fisher-Price Rock ‘n Play Sleeper. The lawsuits assert, and public documents and investigative reporting have shown, that Fisher-Price and Mattel failed to put their popular Rock ‘n Play Sleeper through proper safety tests before making it available for purchase. The companies also ignored multiple warnings that a design defect could – and, in fact, did – lead to serious injury and death among the infants who slept in it.
AFFECTED PRODUCTS
- Fisher-Price Rock ‘n Play Sleeper (all years)
ABOUT THE ROCK ‘N PLAY SLEEPER DESIGN DEFECT
In October 2009, Fisher-Price and Mattel began selling an inclined sleeper known as the Rock ‘n Play. Despite medical consensus that the only safe way for an infant to sleep was facing upward on a firm, flat surface, Fisher-Price’s product placed infants at an incline of 30 degrees. The companies consulted just one doctor and conducted no other identified medical research or safety testing before the product hit the market.
As early as 2010, parents began disclosing that their babies had died or been seriously injured after sleeping in a Rock ‘n Play Sleeper.
Despite warnings issued by regulatory agencies and health experts around the world, Fisher-Price declined to voluntarily recall or redesign its Rock ‘n Play Sleeper. In April 2017, the U.S. Consumer Product and Safety Commission (CPSC) issued a report stating that it was aware of 657 incidents, including 14 deaths, related to the Rock ‘n Play and other inclined sleepers. Another CPSC report found that inclined sleepers were responsible for at least 59 fatalities between October 1, 2016, and June 30, 2019. The report also stated: “The combination of incline angle, rigidity of the surface, curvature of the surface, and material selection of a plastic surface with padding all contribute to an increased risk of suffocation if infants are positioned prone in an inclined sleep product.”
On April 8, 2019, Consumer Reports published an article in which Fisher-Price confirmed that the Rock ‘n Play Sleeper was “tied to at least 32 infant deaths.” Four days later, the CPSC issued a recall of “about 4.7 million” Rock ‘n Play Sleepers that had been sold during the product’s 10-year lifespan, affirming that “over 30 infant fatalities have occurred in Rock ‘n Play Sleepers.”
FISHER-PRICE’S NEGLIGENCE & YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS
Hagens Berman believes that the Rock ‘n Play Sleeper was defectively designed, and that Fisher-Price and Mattel were negligent in testing and designing it, leading to the deaths of dozens of infants and causing injury to hundreds more. Despite being made aware that their product contained a potentially fatal design flaw and was unsafe for babies to sleep in, Fisher-Price and Mattel chose to keep selling the Rock ‘n Play – some 4.7 million units over 10 years – as is, putting profit over the safety and protection of some of society’s most vulnerable people. There is no excuse for the pain Fisher-Price and Mattel has caused these victims and their families, and we believe you should be compensated for your suffering.
TOP PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEYS
With over 50 years of collective experience dealing with personal injury cases, and as one of the leading firms actively pursuing wrongful death and personal injury cases relating to the Rock ‘n Play Sleeper, our attorneys understand how difficult pain and tragedy can be to overcome and are uniquely equipped to get you the compensation you deserve and seek justice so that the same tragedy does not befall future families.
NO COST TO YOU
Our experience means the process of filing your case will be as simple as possible and handled by experts in personal injury law. But experience doesn’t mean expensive: Hagens Berman doesn’t charge unless we win your case.
