Chicago, ILParents who bought
baby "sleep positioners" believing they were safe are now suing the companies that sold them, demanding that sales of the product end and the "positioners" be destroyed. "They want the marketing and sales of these to cease and desist," says veteran attorney Stewart Weltman who is handling the Illinois class action suit.
The litigation comes on the heels of warnings from the Consumer Product Safety Commission and from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in September, advising parents that the "positioners" could, ironically, pose a risk of suffocation and could be dangerous for babies.
According to the FDA report, there are at least 12 deaths linked to the "sleep positioners" and parents are advised not to use them.
Thousands of the "sleep positioners" have been sold across the US and marketed as a scientifically proven way to prevent crib deaths. However, the complaint filed alleges that no such credible evidence exists and charges that such claims, particularly given the recent warnings, amount to deception under the Illinois Consumer Fraud Act.
"What we are doing," says Weltman, "is trying to prevent more deaths."
Two of the companies that market "sleep positioners" have now curtailed sales of the product, but the organization that represents the businesses that sell them, the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association, says its members will continue to sell the product. "Even those that have stopped selling these have a legal responsibility to get the word out that these are potentially unsafe devices," says Weltman.
The lead plaintiff in the case, Xochitl Caldera, an Illinois woman who bought one of the "postioners" for her own child, asks that the court order the companies to stop selling the "sleep petitioners," destroy the existing inventory and make a public effort to inform parents who purchased sleep petitioners to stop using them.
The suit seeks only legal costs and that "sleep positioners" be taken off the market and that people who purchased them be warned of the potential danger they pose.
Stewart Weltman is a principal with the firm of Futterman, Howard, Ashley, Watkins & Weltman. He has more than 30 years experience representing both plaintiffs and defendants in complex litigation cases. He has won several significant 8- and 9-figure verdicts and settlements.