Ikea pays out £40million to parents of three toddlers killed when Malm dressers fell on them
IKEA has paid out more than £40million in compensation to the families of three toddlers who were crushed to death under top heavy dressers.
The first victim, two-year-old Curran Collas from West Chester in the US state of Pennsylvania, was killed in February 2014 after pulling down a six-drawer dresser onto himself while trying to climb it.
Four months later, Camden Ellis of Snohomish, Washington, also two, died in a similar incident.
He spent four days on a ventilator after a smaller three-drawer dresser fell on top of him.
And the final victim Theodore “Ted” McGee was killed when a six-drawer dresser bought by his parents fell on top of him at the family home in Minnesota, USA, on February 22.
The family’s lawyer Alan Feldman told that little Ted’s mum and dad had thought he was napping and didn’t realise what had happened until it was too late.
He said: “They didn't hear the dresser fall. They didn't hear Ted scream.”
All the dressers were from Ikea’s Malm range, 29million of which were recalled after being found to be top heavy and likely to topple if not secured to a wall.
Related stories
The Swedish company initially offered customers free “restraint kits” to secure the dressers and released a video as part of a campaign in 2015 to raise awareness of the potential dangers.
But sustained pressure eventually forced the firm into the unprecedented recall, after the number of restraint kits claimed by customers amounted to just over one per cent of the Malm units sold.
The McGee family, who bought their dresser in 2012, also claimed they were completely unaware of the awareness campaign.
And earlier this year it emerged that dressers from the Malm range had failed a standard consumer safety test, requiring them to remain upright when a 23kg weight was hung from an extended drawer.
But the dressers were still allowed to be sold because of a loophole stipulating the company must warn customers to secure them to a wall.
Ikea has now agreed to pay out some £40.4million to the families of the three victims, which will be divided between them.
The company also agreed to pay £40,500 to three children’s hospitals in the names of the toddlers.
But Ted’s mum Janet McGee said: “This has been a tragic, heartbreaking season for us and our family, and no amount of money will make up for the loss of our sweet little boy.”
The three toddlers in the most recent lawsuit were not the only victims.
Unstable Ikea dressers have been linked to the deaths of seven kids since 1989 – five of which were from the Malm range.
The furniture giant shelled out £1.9million in 2008 to the family of three-year-old Katie Elise Lambert, from Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania, who was killed when a wardrobe fell on her.
And the company settled another case for an undisclosed sum in 2009 after a three-drawer dresser crushed a three-year-old girl to death in Chula Vista, California.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368