Dudek v. Ikea

$46M Verdict

Date of Verdict: Jan. 6.

Court and Case No.: C.P. Philadelphia No. 171204131.

Judge: Shelley Robbins-New.

Type of Action: Products liability, wrongful death.

Injuries: Death.

Plaintiffs Counsel: Alan Feldman, Daniel Mann and Edward Goldis,  Feldman Shepherd Wohlgelernter Tanner Weinstock Dodig, Philadelphia.

Defense Counsel: Keith Heinold, Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin.

Comment:

Swedish furniture retailer Ikea has agreed to pay $46 million to settle claims stemming from a fatal dresser tip-over incident involving a toddler.

Attorneys from Feldman Shepherd Wohlgelernter Tanner Weinstock Dodig who represented the family of the 2-year-old killed in the incident announced Jan. 6 that they had secured the multimillion-dollar settlement in the case, Dudek v. Ikea. The lawsuit had been filed in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas in 2017, and the parties agreed to the accord during mediation before Florida-based mediator Rodney Max of Upchurch Watson White & Max. During a press conference announcing the settlement, Feldman Shepherd attorney Alan Feldman, who represented the plaintiffs along with attorneys Daniel Mann and Edward Goldis, said the agreement marks the largest settlement in the country in a wrongful death case involving a toddler.

The lawsuit stemmed from a MALM dresser tipping over onto 2-year-old Jozef Dudek after his father Craig Dudek had put him down for a daytime nap in May 2017. According to Feldman, the settlement also stemmed from the only known death to occur from a tip-over of a MALM dresser since Ikea agreed to recall the dressers in 2016.

Feldman's firm previously represented three other families who lost children due to MALM dressers, and his firm led those families to recover a $50 million settlement from Ikea in late 2016.

During the press conference, the plaintiffs' attorneys said the fact that Dudek's death occurred after the 2016 recall likely helped strengthen the liability claims against the furniture maker.

"Ikea had learned about the multiple deaths from its products. They had already admitted they were unstable and needed to be gotten out of American homes," Feldman said. "This case occurred when Ikea had significantly more information about the dangers of their products and how they were being used, and when they weren't doing enough to alert consumers to the real dangers of having these products in a home with small children."

Keith Heinold of Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin represented Ikea.

In a statement to the press, Ikea spokeswoman Haley Mayer said the company offered its "deepest condolences."

According to the complaint, Craig and Joleen Dudek bought the dresser from Ikea in 2008 at a store in Costa Mesa, California. On May 24, 2017, after putting Jozef to bed for a nap, Craig Dudek entered Jozef's bedroom and found that the MALM dresser had fallen on top of the toddler and pinned him between drawers. After lifting the drawers, Craig Dudek administered CPR, and then ran outside with his son in his arms shouting for help. Although emergency services arrived and began performing CPR and the child was transferred to West Anaheim Medical Center, the measures were unsuccessful and Jozef died that day.

During the press conference, Feldman said the company had opted out of complying with voluntary safety standards for standalone furniture, since the company did not intend for the dresser to be used as a standalone piece, but rather it was supposed to be affixed to a wall. However, according to Feldman, the company failed to provide the equipment needed to fix the dresser to a wall, and did not warn about the dangers to small children if the dresser was used as a standalone.

Although Ikea has redesigned the MALM dresser in the wake of the 2016 recall, the plaintiffs' lawyers also said they did not think the company has gone far enough in notifying customers who purchased the older version of the dresser about the recall. Specifically, Mann noted that neither the Dudeks, nor Feldman Shepherd, which had purchased a MALM dresser prior to the recall, received an email notifying them the dressers had been recalled. He also said there had been a separate claim in Dudek alleging the recall had not been conducted effectively.

The lawyers noted that the recent settlement accord also includes an agreement from Ikea to increase efforts to raise awareness about the recall.

—Max Mitchell, of the Law Weekly