$700,000 Settlement – Child Killed due to defective Car Seat

Child car seats were created to prevent injury and death to our most vulnerable citizens – babies and toddlers.  When those seats themselves are the cause of injury, there is reason for concern.

Florida trial lawyer John Elliott Leighton recovered $700,000 for the parents of a child killed as a result of a defectively marketed child car seat. The seat was marketed to the public in a package that showed it in the front seat even though at the time it was sold most cars were equipped with front seat airbags.  An airbag that deploys into a child car seat, especially a rear-facing car seat, will cause severe injury or death to a child.  The manufacturer claimed that the instructions included a warning not to place the child restraint in the front seat.  Mr. Leighton demonstrated during the litigation that the packaging and lack of warning on the product was the reason why these parents used the seat as they did, thinking it would protect their child.  Instead it killed their baby when a minor accident caused the airbags to deploy.  The case resulted in a change in packaging by the manufacturer.

 

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