Baby Crib Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed Over Defect Design

The mother of an infant who died as a result of a defective drop side crib manufactured by Simplicity, Inc., has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the now defunct crib manufacturer, whose defective cribs have resulted in several infant deaths and other serious injuries.

Connie Bergey, of Palm Beach, Florida, filed the drop side crib lawsuit over the death of her two-year-old daughter Serenity, whose head got caught in the frame of a Simplicity crib in September 2007. Two days after her death, that crib model was among one million cribs that were recalled.

Simplicity, formerly of Reading, Pennsylvania, was forced out of business after defective designs for their cribs and bassinets resulted in at least four infant deaths and dozens of other injuries when children became entrapped in dangerous gaps.

Since the company ceased operations, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has continued to issue recalls for unsafe Simplicity products, including a bassinet recall involving 900,000 units in August 2008, 600,000 more Simplicity drop side cribs recalled in September 2008 and 200,000 portable play yards recalled in January 2009.

Simplicity’s assets were purchased by SFCA, Inc., also of Reading, Pa. However, the CPSC has reported that SFCA was uncooperative in working with the commission to conduct additional recalls and refused to take returned products from customers. According to a recent re-announcement of the Simplicity bassinet recall, the CPSC reported that SFCA “no longer appears to be conducting day to day operations” and has stopped answering phone calls and returning e-mails.

Bergey’s lawsuit claims that Simplicity knowingly sold dangerous designs to parents, endangering the lives of infants, and should have recalled the cribs before Serenity’s death.