Ikea to pay £35m to parents whose toddler was killed by falling chest of drawers

‘We are telling our story because we do not want this to happen to another family,’ say parents

Joleen and Craig Dudek, top right, comfort each other as they join a news conference in Philadelphia via video (AP)

Ikea will pay $46m (£35m) to the parents of a toddler who died after being crushed by a chest of drawers that toppled onto him, the family’s lawyers have said.

Jozef Dudek, two, died from suffocation in Buena Park, California, in 2017. His parents sued the Swedish home furnishings company in a Philadelphia court the following year.

Lawyers say it is the largest child wrongful death settlement in US history.

The Dudeks accused Ikea of knowing that its 32kg Malm drawers were unstable, and had already injured or killed a number of children, but said the company had failed to warn buyers that the chest of drawers must be anchored to a wall.

Joleen and Craig Dudek said in a statament: “We never thought that a two-year-old could cause a dresser just 30 inches high to topple over and suffocate him.

“It was only later that we learned [it] was unstable by design. We are telling our story because we do not want this to happen to another family.”

The Dudek family said they will donate $1m from the settlement to organisations advocating more rigorous stability testing for dressers.

Under the settlement, Ikea is required to meet advocacy organisation Parents Against Tip-overs and educate more consumers about the Malm drawers recall, the Dudek’s lawyers said.

An Ikea spokeswoman said: “While no settlement can alter the tragic events that brought us here, for the sake of the family and all involved we’re grateful that this litigation has reached a resolution.

“We remain committed to working to address this very important home safety issue.”

The suit noted that the drawers were recalled in 2016 – the largest recall in Ikea’s history, after three children were killed by tipped-over chests of drawers between 2014 and 2016.

Camden Ellis, two, Curren Collas, also two, and 23-month-old Ted McGee were all crushed by the chests of drawers. In December 2016, Ikea agreed to a combined settlement of $50m to the families of the three toddlers.

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission’s latest advice said: “CPSC and Ikea are urging consumers to inspect their Ikea chests and dressers to ensure that they are securely anchored to the wall.

“Consumers should move unanchored chests and dressers into storage or other areas where they cannot be accessed by children until the chests and dressers are properly anchored to the wall.”