A lawsuit has been brought against Evenflo by Rob Ammons on behalf of a Texas man whose toddler daughter was catastrophically injured when the booster seat she was in proved useless in a motor vehicle accident.
The little girl was properly belted within an Evenflo Big Kid Sports Booster seat inside the family’s Dodge Journey when a collision occurred. Despite proper utilization of the booster seat which the product labeling indicated was appropriate for use by the 3-year-old, the little girl sustained a spinal cord injury that has rendered her permanently quadriplegic.
The lawsuit against Evenflo, the Big Kid Sport’s manufacturer, for strict product liability, negligence, malice and breach of warranty includes claims that the booster seat was inappropriate and unsafe for use by a child as young and as small as this toddler and that it was incapable of providing such a child with the restraint necessary to prevent serious injury in a crash. Ammons further claims in the lawsuit that Evenflo has represented to consumers that the Big Kid will “greatly reduce the risk of serious injury” for a very small children despite the fact that numerous child safety advocates and organizations were of the opinion that booster seats should only be used by children who have outgrown conventional, full-size child safety seats designed to offer protection through side wing and shoulder harness features not present in booster seats.
According to the lawsuit, Evenflo consciously chose not to share critical safety information with consumers, instead of marketing its booster seats for use by small children for whom it was unsafe. Evenflo also failed to share with its customers that, in contrast to what it was suggesting to potential customers regarding the injury prevention benefits of its booster seat, it had actually told the government that its Big Kid was not a safety seat. Ammons also alleges in the lawsuit that Evenflo Big Kids sold in Canada are labeled for use ONLY with children weighing at least 40 pounds due to danger of inadequate upper torso and head restraint, but that U.S. consumers were not privy to such labeling on Big Kids sold in the States.
“The inability of booster seats to provide upper body restraint for young children weighing as little as 30 pounds has proven to be an enormous problem for consumers who rely on manufacturers like Evenflo to put a child’s safety above the company’s bottom line. It has certainly devastated this family and this precious little girl’s life,” says Ammons.
Rob Ammons is Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, in addition to being Board Certified in Civil Law by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. Rob Ammons’ law practice, The Ammons Law Firm, is located in Houston, Texas.
The Ammons Law Firm’s practice is exclusively personal injury law, handling such cases as tire defects, oil rig explosions, truck accidents, plant explosions, refinery accidents, wrongful death, post-collision fires, seat belt defects, airbag defects, SUV rollovers, and workplace negligence.
