Parents Sue When Stove Tips And Kills Two-Year-Old
On July 11, 2010, a two-year-old was crushed to death when the stove in his family’s kitchen tipped over on him, reports stltoday.com. The parents have since filed a wrongful death lawsuit in St. Louis County Circuit Court seeking damages from the Oak Tree Apartments for an undisclosed amount.
The lawsuit claims the accident could have been prevented and the child’s life saved if the landlord had secured the stove with a simple bracket.
At least 34 people have been killed since 1980 in similar accidents. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission counted 107 incidents of injury or death from 1980 through 2006 – half of the fatalities were children under age 2. Most of the injuries were from burns from hot liquids when the range tipped.
Accidents such as these are frustrating for safety advocates who have tried for years to prompt people to install the inexpensive bracket. Pressure on an open oven door – even from a small climbing child – may be enough leverage to cause the stove to pitch forward. Children often use an open door as a step to be able to reach something on the counter – too often with deadly results.
The making of lighter weight stoves made the industry provide anti-tip brackets since 1991. Even with the warnings of danger, consumer experts estimate as many as 45 million American homes have not installed the anti-tip device.
Labels: Negligence, Wrongful Death, Wrongful Death AttorneyPosted by 3:32 pm