Ikea to Pay $46 Million Settlement to Parents of Calif. Toddler Killed by a Falling Dresser
Ikea has reached a settlement with a California couple whose child died after one of the furniture company’s dressers crushed and killed the 2-year-old.
Ikea will pay Joleen and Craig Dudek $46 million, The New York Times reported Monday. The Dudek’s son, Jozef, died in 2017 from asphyxia caused by mechanical compression of the neck after the dresser fell onto him, the couple’s lawsuit said, according to the NYT.
“We miss him so much,” the Dudeks, who are from Buena Park, California, said in a statement to the outlet via their lawyer.
“He would be turning 5 years old this April,” the statement said. “We never thought that a 2-year-old could cause a dresser just 30-inches high to topple over and suffocate him. It was only later that we learned that this dresser was unstable by design and did not meet safety standards, and that this had happened to other little boys.”
A spokesperson for Ikea added to the NYT, “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.”
“We remain committed to working proactively and collaboratively to address this very important home safety issue. Again, we offer our deepest condolences,” Ikea’s statement continued.
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Ikea president Javier Quiñones agreed to meet with the advocacy group Parents Against Tip-Overs as part of the settlement, both USA Today and the NYT reported.
“If a 2-year-old can tip over a three-drawer dresser, you know there’s something wrong with that dresser,” the Dudek’s lawyer, Alan M. Feldman, told the NYT. “There’s millions and millions of them in American homes.”
It’s not the first time one of Ikea’s dressers has crushed a child to death, but little Jozef was the first child to die after Ikea announced a recall of millions dressers in 2016, USA Today reported.
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The recall came after six children were killed and 36 others were injured, PEOPLE previously reported.
The Dudeks did not become aware of the recall until it was tragically too late.
According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, a piece of furniture, TV or appliance tipping over causes an injury in the U.S. every 17 minutes, Consumer Reports (CR) said in 2018.
The Dudeks’ lawyer and Ikea did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
