LOS ANGELES (Legal Newsline) – A man who sued car seat manufacturers, claiming they failed to disclose the amount of harmful flame-retardant chemicals contained in their products, has agreed to voluntarily dismiss the case.
On May 3, attorneys representing Spencer Price filed a pleading in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, voluntarily dismissing with prejudice its claims against Orbit Baby Inc. and The Ergo Baby Carrier Inc.
The parties agreed to not move forward with the case because Orbit Baby Inc., which designed, manufactured, and sold the car seats, has entered into a consent judgment in Center for Environmental Health v. Orbit Baby Inc., in Alameda County Superior Court Case. Under that settlement, Orbit Baby will provide replacement car seats, which have a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of more than $400, to all consumers who are eligible and make a claim to the putative class in this action, according to court documents.
Due to the judgment, the parties agreed that the claims asserted in the Price case should no longer be prosecuted on a class-wide basis, and instead settled on an individual basis, according to court documents.
Prior to Price’s suit, Orbit Baby ceased manufacturing car seats. Furthermore, the defendants denied all allegations in the action, including the claim that the seats contained harmful chemicals.
The Ergo Baby Carrier Inc. contended it was improperly named as a defendant in Price’s claim because it only owns the stock of Orbit Baby and played no role in the design, manufacture or sale of the car seats.
On Nov. 30, Price filed a complaint on behalf of all others similarly situated individuals, alleging the manufacturers violated the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act, common law fraud, and other claims. Price alleged that he was owed damages because he was misled into purchasing the Orbit Baby Essentials G2 Car Seat, according to court documents.
Price alleged that the manufacturers allegedly made false claims regarding the amount of material levels of TDCPP, chlorinated tris, contained in the product. The substance is known to cause cancer or reproductive harms.