Confidential settlement – defective high chair – baby death

Leighton Panoff Law’s John Elliott Leighton represented the parents of a toddler who died when the high chair in which he was sitting asphyxiated him.  The child slid down under the tray, which acted to cut off his air supply long enough to cause this child’s death.  Leighton brought suit against the high chair manufacturer, a large maker of juvenile products.  Working with world class experts and design engineers, Leighton demonstrated that the product was defectively designed by allowing children to “submarine” and cause asphyxiation and death.  In fact, Mr. Leighton discovered in depositions of industry personnel that they were aware of a many child deaths due to submarining but chose not to modify the product because of cost, always blaming parents and caregivers for failing to properly supervise children.  Mr. Leighton obtained a confidential settlement for these parents.

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