St. Louis Injury Lawyer Blog

Macy's Inc. recently agreed to pay a civil penalty of $750,000 after the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) accused the company of failing to report they been selling children's sweatshirts, sweaters and jackets with drawstrings at the neck between 2006 and 2010. The CPSC reports that Macy's knowingly kept the items up for sale after the warning had been issued.

Children's upper outerwear that comes with drawstrings poses a strangulation hazard to children that can result in death serious injury to children in Missouri and elsewhere. Items that have these drawstrings include sweatshirts, sweaters and jackets.

Our St. Louis personal injury attorneys understand that federal law requires manufacturers, distributors and retailers to report back to CPSC within 24 hours after receiving information reasonably supporting the conclusion that a product contains a defect. Most times these defects can create a substantial product hazard, can create an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death or if they fail to comply with any consumer product safety rule or any other rule, regulation, standard or ban.

These sweatshirts, sweaters and jackets that were the subject of the penalty agreement were sold by Macy's and Macy's-owned stores, including Bloomingdale's, and Robinsons-May between 2006 and 2010.

It's not all bad news, though. Last week marked the first week that consumers would start seeing a whole new generation of safer cribs for sale at local and national retail stores. Back in December of 2010, the CPSC voted to approve new mandatory crib standards, establishing the strictest crib safety standards in the world.

Starting last week, all importers, distributors, manufacturers and retailers are required to offer only child cribs that meet the CPSC's new full-size and non-full-size crib standards.

Some of the new mandatory rules for cribs include:

• Stopping the manufacture and sale of dangerous, traditional drop-side cribs.


• Strengthening mattress supports and crib slats.


• Requiring crib hardware to be more durable.


• Making safety testing more rigorous.

"A safe crib is the safest place for a baby to sleep. It is for this reason that I am so pleased that parents, grandparents and caregivers now can shop with confidence and purchase cribs that meet the most stringent crib standards in the world," said CPSC Chairwomen Inez Tenenbaum. "From the start, our goal has been to prevent deaths and injuries to babies in cribs, and now the day has come where only stronger and safer cribs are available for consumers to purchase."

Since 2007, the CPSC has recalled more than 11 million dangerous cribs. Drop-side cribs with detaching side rails were reportedly associated with more than 30 infant suffocation and strangulation deaths since 2000. A number of deaths have also occurred because of faulty or defective crib hardware. These new standards were put into effect in an attempt to prevent these tragedies and keep children safer in their cribs.

Starting in December of 2012, all child care facilities will be required to use only cribs that comply with the new crib standards. This includes family child care homes and infant Head Start centers and places of public accommodation, including hotels and motels, and rental companies.