Henry Gordy Agrees to $1M Fine for not Reporting Toy Gun Deaths, Etc.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission is seeking comments on a provisionally-accepted settlement agreement with Henry Gordy International, Inc. which contains a civil penalty of $1,1000,000 to settle charges that it failed to immediately report the deaths of three children involving the darts of its toy gun sets and for material misrepresentation of the facts when it did report the problem to CPSC.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
Comments on whether CPSC should accept this agreement are due by October 29, 2011.
Alleges Henry Gordy Knew of 3 Children's Deaths Before Telling CPSC, Misrepresented Information
Between September 2005 and February 2008, Henry Gordy imported approximately 1,806,048 units of the “Auto Fire Target Set”. Each Target Set consisted of a toy gun; soft, pliable, plastic toy darts; and a small target. The Target Sets were sold for $1.50 nationwide by Family Dollar Stores, Inc., exclusively during the period September 2005 through January 2009.
Henry Gordy received its first report of a death involving a Target Set in May 2006, after an 8-year-old boy choked on a dart and died. In response to the reported death, Henry Gordy implemented a design change in August 2006 to add a product warning to the Target Set’s packaging, which stated: “Parental Supervision Suggested.” In January and October 2007, Henry Gordy was notified of two more children's deaths due to swallowing of the darts and asphyxiation.
Despite being aware of the three deaths, Henry Gordy did not report them to CPSC until May 2009, after the agency asked it to do so, and its report did not include the death of the first boy or information on the resulting packaging design change. In addition, Henry Gordy did not agree to CPSC's request to recall the products and the Target Sets were ultimately recalled in May 2010 by the retailer, Family Dollar Stores. Six days after the recall was announced, another 8-year-old boy died after he swallowed a dart and asphyxiated.
Staff alleges that despite being aware of information that reasonably supported the conclusion that its Target Sets contained a defect that could create a substantial product hazard or an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death, Henry Gordy knowingly1 failed to immediately (within 24 hours) inform CPSC of the defect. Staff also alleges that Henry Gordy made a material misrepresentation to staff in the course of its investigation by failing to report a death and by failing to report the packaging design change that it had made to the Target Sets.
(The settlement agreement has been provisionally accepted by the Commission. It does not constitute an admission by Henry Gordy that it violated CPSC’s reporting requirements, that it made a material misrepresentation, or that the deaths were caused by its products.)
1Under CPSC’s statute, the term "knowingly" means: (1) the having of actual knowledge, or (2) the presumed having of knowledge deemed to be possessed by a reasonable man who acts in the circumstances, including knowledge obtainable upon the exercise of due care to ascertain the truth of representations.
CPSC press release posted after Federal Register publication of the settlement available here.
CPSC -- Patricia Vieira (301) 504--7623
(FR Pub 10/14/11, D/N 12--C0002)