The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a product recall that is underway for Britax child safety strollers which feature their Click & Go receiver mounts. The models involved are the Britax B-Agile and BOB Motion stroller products. Over 600,000 units are believed to have been sold in the U.S and approximately 40,000 throughout Canada and Mexico. These strollers are defined as “folding, single or double occupant” units where the Click & Go receiver attaches the carrier of the car seat to the frame of a stroller. The model numbers are located beneath the frame of the stroller. The USA Today report confirmed that thus far 33 incidents of the seat becoming disconnected have occurred. The company president reiterated their commitment to provide safe products and to take appropriate corrective action in the process. The official recall website can be accessed here.
Colorado Product Liability
A “product liability action” under CO law is one brought against sellers or manufacturers in response to injury, damage, or death from a product’s assembly, construction, design, formula, installation, labeling or packaging. This may also result from a failure to warn users of potentially dangerous or hazardous results from the use or product misuse. The statute of limitations in these actions is two years.
Defining “Manufacturer” and “Seller”
Manufacturers are entities that design, construct, produce or assemble a products or components prior to it being sold to the end-user. The term further includes sellers who are aware of product defects, or with some control over a product’s manufacturing or modification. In addition, sellers owned wholly or partially by a manufacturer are included.
A seller is an entity that functions as a business to sell or lease a product within the supply chain. Those sellers that simply market a product that they do not manufacture under a “private label” are not subject to product liability acts.
Product Liability Presumptions
- That a product which caused harm is not defective and the manufacturer was not negligent if:
- Before being sold the product was deemed state of the art or within industry standards among related products.
- Was in compliance with codes, standards, or regulations in existence at the time.
- If 10 years have passed since the product was first sold in the market.
- Noncompliance with current codes, standards, or regulations may lead to a presumption that a product was defective.
Product Misuse
Actions of product liability may not be brought against manufacturers or sellers if the product was used improperly, or for a purpose it was not intended for. This applies when the misuse of the product, or other usages not to be expected, was the cause of the injuries, damage, or death.
In today’s highly competitive consumer product marketplace, manufacturers seek to reduce the costs of producing products. Often a product’s safety may be compromised in some way. Colorado consumers who have been harmed by a faulty or defective product are encouraged to contact the Law Firm of Jeremy Rosenthal at (303) 825-2223 for a consultation.