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| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| California filed lawsuit against 20 companies who sold toys containing lead. |
| 2007-11-21 |
| Firms sold toys they knew had lead: US lawsuit PAY UP: If convicted, the companies, including Toys `R' Us, Mattel and Costco, could be required to pay a multimillion-dollar sum under California state law AFP, LOS ANGELES Wednesday, Nov 21, 2007, Page 1 California on Monday launched a lawsuit against 20 companies, accusing them of knowingly exposing children to lead in toys they manufactured or sold. California Attorney General Jerry Brown said the firms, included Mattel Inc and Toys "R" Us, exposed children to potentially dangerous lead levels. It follows a series of nationwide toy recalls this year which have seen tens of millions of largely Chinese-made products, including Barbie doll accessories, toy cars, trains and infant toys withdrawn from stores. "Companies must take every reasonable step to assure that the products they handle are safe for children and their families and fully comply with the laws of California," Brown said. "Despite the lengthening global supply chain, every company that does business in this state must follow the law and protect consumers from lead and other toxic materials." Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo said the suit filed in Alameda Superior Court was aimed at forcing toy companies to ensure there was no repeat of the violation by adopting procedures that ensured products were safe. "Lead in toys poses a significant threat to the health and well being of our children," Delgadillo said. "This lawsuit is intended to ensure that these companies eliminate lead and other harmful substances from children's toys, once and for all." Each violation of the California law known as Proposition 65 is punishable by a fine of up to US$2,500, in theory leaving the firms named in the suit facing a multimillion-dollar damages claim. The companies named in the lawsuit include: Mattel, Fisher-Price, Michaels Stores, Toys "R" Us, Wal-Mart, Target, Sears, KB Toys, Costco Wholesale, A&A Global Industries, RC2, Eveready Battery Co, Kids II, Kmart, Marvel Entertainment as well as Toy Investments. A spokeswoman for Mattel welcomed the lawsuit and said the toy giant had cooperated with authorities continuously. "Mattel expected this development and believes that the attorney general's assumption of this case will be beneficial to all parties," a spokeswoman said in a statement quoted by the Los Angeles Times. "The company has been in continuous communication with the California attorney general's office since the initiation of the recalls this summer and has cooperated fully," she said. Brown told the Times he expected the companies to settle the suit by agreeing to "conditions such as testing or putting independent monitors in foreign countries." Tougher procedures are necessary to protect consumers from "the new world order where the global supply chain goes from Beverly Hills to the hinterlands of China" and where some companies had "closed their eyes" to the threat of contamination, he said. |
| Posted by:Delphi |
| #6 It depends. Some of the reports had the Chinese companies deliberately falsifying test results, never running the tests at all, or choosing their ingredient replacements with an eye toward passing tests for quality rather than raw material. Out in the real world, after all, companies comply with raw material stipulations and manufacturing protocols. The question generally whether they can stay within tight specifications, not whether they are making something else. |
| Posted by: trailing wife in Buffalo for Thanksgiving 2007-11-21 20:16 |
| #5 the manufacturere are going to have a hard time proving that they were unaware without exposing themselves to negligence Agreed, USN,Ret., the actual manufacturers could not possibly have been unaware regarding China's lengthy history of lead contaminated products specifically and poor oversight of or intentional lapses with respect to quality control in general. China's well-publicized and endemic corruption literally guarantees all of these problems. The few bright spots in all of this will be that any domestic toy manufacturers who actually try and recover any monetary compensation from the mainland will be given the bum's rush while China's reputation will continue to be blackened by ongoing coverage of this lawsuit. Finally, American-based toy manufacturers are seeing a real surge in demand from wary consumers who are tired of worrying about their kids being poisoned by shoddily produced goods. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-11-21 17:46 |
| #4 I'm sure the bean counters included this in the cost savings when they did the analysis of moving the manufacturing function to China. /sarcasm off. See, it's not just socialist who miscalculate the total costs of doing something. The difference is that companies and shareholders take the hit, not just an entire friggin country. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2007-11-21 16:45 |
| #3 Money, Money, Money Money, Money, Money Money, Money, Money. Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme,gimme. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2007-11-21 16:43 |
| #2 I don't know about the retailers' liability, but as one that lives in the QA and ISO world, the root cause of this looks like lax oversight of the vendors. And the manufacturere are going to have a hard time proving that they were unaware without exposing themselves to negligence, since knowledge of "...applicable statutory and regulatory" rules is a standard clause in any contract i have ever reviewed, as well as a requirement for ISO 9001 certification. Expect there to be a full court press to shuffle the blame to China. |
| Posted by: USN,Ret. 2007-11-21 15:58 |
| #1 While the "knowingly" part of this may be difficult to prove, one can only hope that such legal difficulties might learn these greedy corporations to finally get off of Uncle Mao's all-you-can-suck cheap labor tit. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-11-21 14:54 |