Window blind cords strangle and kill, on average, one child every two weeks. After representing more than 50 grieving families who stood up to the window blind industry, we are proud to announce that the Window Covering Manufacturers Association (WCMA) will now require nearly all window coverings sold in the United States and Canada to have cordless or inaccessible or short cords.
This is a major win for us, and it’s what we have been fighting for.
Nearly 17 million American households with children under 6 have window blinds with potentially deadly cords, according to industry records. Since 1973, the Consumer Product Safety Commission and Journal of the American Medical Association linked the deaths of at least 768 children to these dangerous cords.
Thanks to decades of pressure from lawsuits like the dozens we’ve represented, both American and international corporations felt a financial impact of their negligent business practices. These financial and public relations consequences have forced them to take action that will save lives.
OnderLaw Involvement
OnderLaw has represented more than 50 families whose children have been strangled by mini blind cords. Two recalls have been a direct result of those cases:
Mini Blind Recall #12-273: Blind Xpress had been selling horizontal blinds for nine years and vertical blinds for 22 years that lacked both inner stop and cord tensioning devices. Multiple cases of death and injury had been reported, yet the company continued to sell them, putting profit over lives. In 2012, following several lawsuits, several of which were filed by OnderLaw , Blind Xpress finally recalled its horizontal and vertical mini blinds. We have no doubt that lives were saved.
Mini Blind Recall #11-306: Voluntary standards were passed in 1996 that required simple tension devices to be installed in corded mini blinds. Without consumer pressure, some mini blind companies continued business as usual, selling blinds without tension devices simply because they could. Hanover was one of those companies. It continued to sell blinds without tension devices for 14 years before lawsuits filed by families whose children were injured or killed forced their hand. They finally issued a recall in 2010.
Not About Money
OnderLaw continues to fight for families whose children have been killed or harmed by window blind cords. It’s important that these families receive compensation for the death or injury and suffering they’ve gone through, but that isn’t the main reason we fight.
For our attorneys and staff at OnderLaw , it’s about stopping unnecessary deaths. We push hard for change by hitting corporations where it hurts the most, in their profit margins, when they fail to care about the lives of those who buy their products.
Nothing can make up for the damage these negligent corporations have caused, but if we can push companies to take dangerous products off of store shelves, it’s worth it. In this case, that’s exactly what’s happening.
How We Affect International Laws
Though we’re limited to our own domestic courts for these types of lawsuits, people around the world benefit. Cases we win are often used during arguments in the courts and government administrations of other countries, and we share our findings and expertise with other law firms and consumer safety groups around the world.
It Takes Time
Change takes time. When it comes to dangerous window blinds, it has now been 23 years since the first voluntary regulations were passed. Yet senseless deaths and life-altering injuries are still occurring. The only safe window blind is a cordless window blind, and we have been determined to make that happen. Though we will not let our guard down, we are hopeful.
We continue to represent brave families who have decided to take a stand, and we recognize that these families are the true change-makers. They are using the horrible tragedies they have endured to help ensure that no other family has to suffer.
Often, these cases take years, but we are all willing to endure the temporary struggles because, ultimately, it’s about something much bigger than us. It’s about saving lives.
If your child has been killed or injured by window blind cords, we want to help. Not only will we fight for compensation for medical bills and suffering, but together we can continue to demand justice from an industry that, for too long, has put profit over people. Contact us today for a free, no-obligation case review.
We can’t change what has already been done, but we can make a difference.