Raynor Marketing, Ltd., of New York (NY) agreed to pay a civil penalty of $390,000 in a settlement with the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The case in question involved broken office chairs.
Raynor Marketing denies any violation, and will not state that the chairs contain a hazardous defect. However, the company did import and distribute approximately 150,000 chairs between May of 2006 and March of 2009 that the commission alleged were defective.
The commission’s staff stated that the chairs’ bolts attaching the seat back to the base could loosen and detach. This made the chair capable of causing a fall, and posed an injury hazard to consumers. Raynor Marketing knew of 16 different customer complaints related to accidents caused by the chairs by August of 2008. However, they were not reported to the commission until April of 2009. At that point, the company knew of at least 28 reports and 8 separate injuries stemming from the chairs, which were not recalled until October of 2009.
While we agree that a civil penalty should be paid by Raynor Marketing, that does not excuse them from potentially harming consumers by manufacturing a defective product. Nor does it explain why they failed to report such a defect promptly to the Consumer Safety Product Commission, or issue a faster product recall.
Be sure to pay special attention to any recalls issued on products that you own. If you are unsure if a purchased item was affected by a recall, contact the manufacturer as soon as possible. If you were injured due to a defective product, contact an experienced personal injury attorney.
IW