Furniture Tip-Over Accidents Provoke Recalls and Class Action Lawsuits

Picture of a television falling on a child.

Did you know that over the last ten years furniture manufacturers across the nation have voluntarily recalled over one million products because of apprehensions about tip over and entrapment dangers?
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) stressed again this year than many adult and infant dresser-drawers and chests are unstable when not attached to walls and may even cause death to infants.


Statistics tell us that thousands of people will visit hospitals this year due to furniture tip-over accidents with over half of the victims being children.


How Dresser Tip-Over Causes Damages


Most dresser tip-overs happen when children climb onto unstable furniture, bookcases or electronic appliances. Unsteady televisions and unsafe chests and dressers are the leading culprits of furniture tip-over accidents, which can prove fatal when objects are heavy.


Parents sometimes blame themselves when tip-overs cause trauma to their loved ones. However, furniture often collapses due to design or manufacturing defects, which makes the product inherently dangerous.


Dressers may also become unsteady due to a company’s failure to warn consumers about the risks of not assembling or mounting the piece properly.


Furniture Tip-Over Lawsuits


Adult and child tip-over victims may possess grounds to file lawsuits against furniture manufacturers when evidence demonstrates a company’s reckless or careless act caused harm to a person.
Plaintiffs may file individual complaints or join furniture tip-over class action lawsuits to address:

  • A wrongful death;
  • Negligence by furniture manufacturers;
  • Products liability on defective design or manufacturing
  • Fraud or negligent representation from misleading advertising.

Successful tip-over lawsuits provide for legal remedies that compensate victims for their monetary losses, medical bills, pain and suffering, and/or loss of life to loved ones (in case of wrongful death).
Important Tip-Over Recalls

  • Thirty Million IKEA Dressers Recalled. As of June 2016, seven children died from IKEA chests and dressers tip-over falls. After the company encountered many government fines responded to several class action lawsuits, IKEA issued a recall on all infant furniture that did not meet CPSC safety requirements.
  • Target Recalls 200K Dressers. Before 2017, consumers complained Room Essentials dresser-drawers were prone to tip over or collapse; two parents also claimed the unstable furniture fell on their children and caused bodily harm. The CPSC took notice of these complaints, and Target preemptively recalled Room Essentials dressers sold in the United States and Canada from January 2013 through April 2016.https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2017/Target-Recalls-Room-Essentials-4-Drawer-Dressers
  • Ameriwood Home Recalls 1.5 Million Mainstays Chests. Ameriwood sold Mainstay chests on Walmart.com and in Wal-Mart Stores from April 2009 to May 2016. The furniture maker recalled this product in September 2017 after one dresser harmed a four-year-old infant and after the CPSC declared the chests to be a tip-over hazard that can produce serious injury or death to infants.https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2017/ameriwood-home-recalls-chests-of-drawers
  • Gemme Juvenile Recalls Furniture Kidz Dressers. A heavy Natart Chelsea dresser sold at Baby.com by Furniture Kidz killed a toddler after he used the furniture as a ladder to ascend into an open drawer. Juvenile recalled the dangerous infant dresser in January 2013, affecting consumers who purchased the item between January 2005 and December 2010.https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2013/natart-chelsea-dressers

Notable IKEA Tip-Over Class Action Lawsuits

  • 2005 – $2.3 Million Jury Verdict. In January 2005, a Pennsylvania jury awarded over $2M to one of its citizens in a wrongful death claim after a large dresser tipped over and killed a two-year-old infant.
  • 2016 – $50M Class Action Settlement. Two parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit after their IKEA MALM dresser tipped over and killed their two-year-old son who died while climbing on the furniture in 2014. This civil suit led to a class action complaint that alleged IKEA didn’t warn consumers about the hidden dangers vested in MALM furniture. The company denied any wrongdoing but settled all class member claims two years later. The agreement further required IKEA to contribute $150K to children’s hospitals in the United States. https://dailyhornet.com/2016/ikea-pays-50m-settlement-in-dresser-death-lawsuits/=
  • 2016 – Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed. After IKEA’s multimillion dollar settlement, a large IKEA dresser gave way on a Minneapolis two-year-old in February 2016, killing him instantly. The toddler’s parents sued, prompting IKEA to openly declare the company has satisfied its duty of care by previously advising consumers in furniture assembly instructions to secure heavy dressers to walls to prevent tip-overs, which the company claims the plaintiffs neglected to do.

Furniture Tip-Over Accident Lawyers


Claims Match associated law firms employ furniture tip-over attorneys with considerable skill in defending the rights of consumers and their families who were harmed in preventable accidents involving unsafe and defective products that produce tippings.


Our law firm maintains a watchful eye on all IKEA lawsuit settlement class actions and on related filings against furniture makers who place defective products in consumer markets.

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