2009-11-26 00:21:03 -

A lawsuit has been filed on behalf of a 7-month-old Louisiana boy who suffocated to death in a recalled Stork Craft crib.

The family alleges a defect created a space between the crib’s drop-side rail and mattress, where the infant’s body became trapped. The baby was laid down to sleep at approximately 9:30 p.m. in the evening and was found unresponsive

by his mother around 8 a.m. the next morning, according to the lawsuit.

In the investigation into the child’s death, the Consumer Product Safety Commission determined the boy’s death was caused by mechanical asphyxia when he became entrapped in a gap between his crib’s mattress and drop-side rail. The CPSC determined that the gap was created when a piece of the claw on the lower right side of the drop-side rail broke, allowing the claw to disengage from the lower right side t-rail of the crib.

“Families put their faith in companies to create safe products.

Consumers must be able to rely on manufacturers to act responsibly," said Richard J. Arsenault, one of the family’s attorneys.

On November 23, 2009, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the recall of more than 2.1 million Stork Craft drop-side cribs, after reports of 110 incidents of drop-side detachments, including the deaths of four infants.

“The parents are obviously devastated. As new parents, you try to protect your child from injuries. Now you find yourself in a situation where conduct over which you had no control leads to tragedy,” added Arsenault.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana in Lafayette, LA (Docket # 6:09-CV-01976). The family is being represented by Neblett, Beard & Arsenault of Alexandria, LA and Huval, Veazey, Felder, Aertker & Renegar of Lafayette, LA.

“If other families have been affected by this nightmare, I urge them to come forward and report their experience with the appropriate regulatory agencies. There needs to be a full scale investigation into why this happened and what can be done to prevent these tragedies from occurring in the future. At the very least, we owe that to these families and the memory of these children,” concluded Arsenault.

Neblett, Beard & Arsenault : Nicole

Cerullo, 318-794-0301