Plaintiffs Tom and Vergie Deasey, devastated by the loss of their 3-year-old son Adrian, have reached a confidential settlement with Newell Window Furnishings, a division of the Newell-Rubbermaid company, Rollease, Inc., and local company Bud’s Drapery Den. Nathan died after strangling on a continuous loop window blind cord manufactured by Newell Window Furnishings, Rollease, Inc., and Bud’s Drapery Den.
The Deaseys hired Arizona Attorney John Osborne of the law offices of Goldberg & Osborne in order to pursue the case based on the hazard window blind cords still pose to children generally six and under such as the one that strangled Adrian to death. The deaths are so quick and silent that parents have been in the same room and not perceived their child was entangled with window cords. Adrian’s then 8-year old brother was in the same room with Adrian and failed to perceive his little brother Adrian, who was playing with the cords, was in distress.
Attorney Osborne wants to see major changes to the window blind cord manufacturing industry as a whole in order to protect consumers. “We know manufacturers can make and installers can install cordless window blinds that pose absolutely no risk of strangulation to children for the same price, and yet they continue to manufacture and install window blinds that are known to kill infants and young children. That has to stop. Cords and blinds have killed hundreds of children in the U.S. since 1981. Window cords on window cord blinds pose one of the top five hidden hazards in the home,” Osborne said. “Warnings and public information campaigns have failed to eradicate this serious hazard, which can be eliminated best by eliminating cords on window blinds. ”
The Deaseys hope to spare other parents from their devastating loss. Although the Deaseys did everything, they knew to childproof their home, they did not perceive that the cords on the window blinds in their children’s playroom, installed by the previous owner, could pose a danger to a child their son’s age. The fact that the window blind manufacturers know their corded products strangle children under six at a rate of around two children per month in the United States, and yet choose to keep these blinds on the market, spurred the Deaseys to take action with their lawsuit. They join with other parents who are living through the nightmare of losing a child or having their child suffer brain damage or other serious injuries from strangulation on the cords, in hopes manufacturers, fabricators, and installers will change their mindset. “If we can save one child – one family – from going through what we’ve been through, then it will all have been worth pursuing this in court,” Mr. Deasey said.
Attorney Osborne agreed with Mr. Deasey. “If the manufacturers won’t make these changes voluntarily, then they will continue to be hit with lawsuits and punished monetarily through the legal system. If that’s what it takes to get them to see the light, then I am resolute to continue to pursue the manufacturers and advocate on behalf of consumers until the manufacturers of these dangerous products finally eliminate accessible cords from their products.”