“We never thought a 2-year-old can cause a dresser to topple over and suffocate him,” said Joleen Dudek, but that's what happened to her son, Jozef, at their California home in 2017. An IKEA brand MALM three-drawer, 70-pound dresser fell on top of him, and he died.
The dresser was recalled in 2016, a year before Jozef died. Unfortunately, Feldman said word about the recall didn't spread enough.
In the 2018 lawsuit, the Dudeks said IKEA did not properly warn consumers that the dressers had injured or killed a number of children. They also said the company failed to inform shoppers that the dressers shouldn't be used without being anchored to a wall.
“We believe that millions of these unstable recall dressers are still in the homes of American consumers across the country,” Feldman added.
As part of the settlement, IKEA agreed to reach out to its customers through emails and social media, making sure everyone knows about the MALM recall.
In a statement, the Dudeks urged anyone who still owns a recalled IKEA dresser to return it. IKEA will provide a full refund, no receipt necessary.
“We do not want this to happen to another family,” the couple said.
The Dudeks plan to donate $1 million of the settlement funds to organizations dedicated to “protecting children from dangerous products”: Kids in Danger, Consumer Reports and the Consumer Federation of America.
“While no settlement can alter the tragic events that brought us here, for the sake of the family and all involved, we’re grateful that this litigation has reached a resolution,” the Swedish company added in a statement. It said it is working to address what it calls a “very important home safety issue.”
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