There is little in this world more devastating to parents, families, and the community than the loss of a child. Now, imagine the death was easily preventable. This is the scenario many families have found themselves in—their infant children unresponsive in the now banned and recalled infant inclined sleeping products.
Product Liability Attorneys Know the Signs of Negligence
Our attorneys here at Stampone O’Brien Dilsheimer Law are known by insurance companies and trusted by law firms across the country for their expertise in product liability lawsuits. Many attorneys nationwide look to the product liability attorneys at Stampone O’Brien Dilsheimer Law to help them represent families impacted by these dangerous products.
Prince Holloway and Kevin O’Brien have been on the front line of these cases since the recall was announced. Holloway elaborates, “It’s a sad reality of our work that we hear when a child dies as a result of a dangerous product. When the victims are innocent and precious babies— our most vulnerable—it hits even harder.”
Beginning with the announcement of the recall by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Holloway and his partners Joe Stampone, Kevin O’Brien, and JB Dilsheimer immediately began investigating these tragedies and plotting a course of action to show why these products should have never made it to homes across the country to put infants at risk.
“The American Academy of Pediatrics has offered clear and simple guidance to parents and product manufacturers for years— babies should sleep on a firm and a flat surface to prevent the risk of infant deaths from suffocation, asphyxia, and SIDS.” said Attorney Kevin O’Brien. “These companies designed a sleeping product that was inclined and made of soft material. They were neither firm, nor flat, and these companies knew it. Their decision to put babies in them to sleep against the clear guidance of pediatricians was one of the most flagrant and dangerous decisions I have ever seen a corporation make in my career of holding corporations accountable for the consequences of their unsafe actions. That the victims of these irresponsible decisions were babies makes their conduct even more outrageous.”
He adds, “We applaud the United States Government for finally passing into law the Safe Sleep for Babies Act which ensures that these dangerous products never harm another family.”
Developing a Product Liability Case
When collecting evidence for cases of this magnitude, there are several key steps. First, our attorneys obtain the products and secure them to preserve any important evidence. From there, it is critical to obtain the leading experts in the country who are familiar with these products and the reasons they are defective. As Joe Stampone explains, “It doesn’t matter if the product is an infant incline sleeper or a chainsaw. If you claim the product is unsafe, it must be reviewed by an engineer. Sometimes, we send out a product, and we’re told it has a design defect, a missing safety lever, or that the product needs to sit at a lower angle. It could also be that the product isn’t appropriately labelled with warnings to ensure the user is safe. Whatever the case may be, the experts we retain leave no stone unturned in their evaluation of the product. These cases highlight the importance of this process in achieving justice for our clients.”
Once we’ve obtained every piece of information we can about the product, we file a lawsuit on behalf of the family.
Pursuing Justice in the Face of Tragedy
The inclined sleeper litigation is currently proceeding to a jury trial, the first of which will be in front of a Philadelphia jury against the company who developed and sold these deadly inclined sleepers. In all, these products have been linked to nearly 100 infant deaths from suffocation and asphyxia. Elaborating on this group of cases, Holloway explains, “When you make a purchase for your child, you think all the precautions have been taken—especially for infants. To realize profits were put over safety is reprehensible. And the worst part? These companies knew their product was dangerous. They were told that inclined sleeping products were dangerous and could be deadly to infants—but all these companies saw was money. In fact, it was Congress that ended up taking the product off the market.”
These cases are a prime example of why Joe Stampone, Kevin O’Brien, Prince Holloway and the attorneys at Stampone O’Brien & Dilsheimer Law specialize in product liability. When the most innocent and vulnerable are affected by companies who ignore basic safety rules, our attorneys will be there to pursue and find justice.
If your child has been harmed or has died while in an infant sleeping product, contact the product liability attorneys at Stampone O’Brien Dilsheimer today. If you are a lawyer who is working on an infant products case and want to team up, give us a call any time. There are no resources our lawyers will not bring to bear to get justice for those impacted by dangerous products and companies that put profits over the safety of infants.