SEATTLE, Aug. 16, 2007 LAWFUEL – The Legal Newswire — Today Keller Rohrback L.L.P. (www.seattleclassaction.com) filed a nationwide class action lawsuit in Federal District Court in the Central District of California against Mattel, Inc. (“Mattel” or the “Company”) (NYSE:MAT), the parent company of Fisher-Price, on behalf of purchasers of toys recalled because they were manufactured using lead paint. The complaint alleges that Mattel negligently coated approximately 2 million toys in lead paint, which in turn has put thousands of children at risk for lead poisoning.
According to plaintiff Rod Underhill: “I was aghast to learn that my two-year-old child has had in her possession for more than two months a Sesame Street toy that has apparently been manufactured with lead paint. As a former attorney for abused children, I personally worked on cases involving the intentional poisoning of small children. To have my own child subjected to poisoning by a manufacturer makes me, as a parent, livid.”
Lynn Lincoln Sarko and Gretchen Freeman Cappio, who represent the plaintiffs, call for Mattel and other toy companies to ensure that their products are safe for children. According to Mr. Sarko: “We have spoken with families across America who are outraged that the toys they bought their small children to enhance their development could actually poison them. Lead has been a known threat to children’s health for more than 30 years. To cover toys intended for small children with lead paint in 2007 is unconscionable. Companies that endanger children by doing so must be held accountable. ”
Ms. Cappio states: “Parents tell me that they paid more for Mattel and Fisher-Price toys because they trusted the brand names. Mattel had a duty to use responsible suppliers and to have proper quality controls in place to prevent sales of products coated with poison. Parents counted on Mattel to ensure its products were safe, and they feel betrayed. As a mother of young children, I know that nothing could be worse than feeling like you’ve harmed your own children by unwittingly putting poison in their hands and mouths. ”
In addition to refunding families the cost of the tainted toys, the class action complaint seeks to ensure that Mattel’s products are certified as safe going forward. It also seeks to have Mattel pay for the lead testing of affected children, as well as damages to meet the children’s medical needs related to lead exposure from the recalled toys.
Mattel’s lead paint recall includes over 84 different toys, including the popular Fisher-Price Big Bird, Elmo, Dora and Diego characters. On Tuesday, Mattel added the Pixar Cars “Sarge” die-cast toy car to its lead paint recall. The recalled toys were sold nationwide between May and August 2007. Thousands of Mattel and Fisher Price toys were sold during this period. For more information about which Mattel and Fisher-Price toys have been recalled, see:
http://service.mattel.com/us/recall.asp.
If you purchased any of the Mattel toys that were recalled due to lead paint contamination, please contact attorney Gretchen Freeman Cappio or paralegal Jennifer Tuato’o by telephone, toll-free at 1-800-776-6044, or via e-mail at: gcappio@kellerrohrback.com or jtuatoo@kellerrohrback.com.
Keller Rohrback, with offices in Seattle and Phoenix, has successfully pursued claims against product manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, and medical device makers on behalf of our injured clients. We have achieved multi-million dollar settlements providing for damages and, in certain cases, medical monitoring.
