Children's product safety lawsuits: what they say about pools and booster seats

Child safety lawsuits focus on products that families buy for or use around children. The cases here say a product's design or marketing did not match the safety parents expected.

In the Bestway above-ground pool lawsuit, the claim is that external compression straps on the pools' sides can be climbed by children, which the lawsuit says creates a potential drowning hazard. Manufacturers use straps like these to help hold a pool's walls in place. According to the CDC's drowning prevention pages, drowning is a leading cause of death for young children. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's Pool Safely campaign recommends layers of protection around home pools, such as barriers and close supervision.

In the Evenflo Big Kid booster seat lawsuit, the claim is that Evenflo misled parents by marketing the seats as suitable for children weighing 30 pounds or more and as "side impact tested" when, the lawsuit says, no federal side-impact standard existed for them. Booster seats raise a child so an adult seat belt fits across the body. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's guidance on car seats and booster seats explains how to choose a seat based on a child's age and size.