T.J. Maxx in Trouble For Selling Recalled Products

In product liability cases, everybody down the line from manufacturer to the company that sells you the defective product, can be liable for the injuries that the defective products cause. This is why retailers will often immediately pull products from their shelves when there is any indication that a product is defective or is recalled.

T.J. Maxx Gets Fined

However, retailer T.J. Maxx is now being fined by the government for selling products that had previously been recalled. By some estimates, the retailer sold about 1,200 products that the government found had a demonstrated risk of suffocating infants, and include a number of sleepers and sleep accessories for infants. The government says that the sleepers were connected to 50 deaths. The products were recalled in 2019.

But baby products aren’t the only product that the retailer continued to sell even after the recalls. Speakers that were prone to exploding because of gas leaks, and chairs that were prone to sudden, unexpected collapsing, were also sold by T.J. Maxx long after the recalls, according to the government.

T.J. Maxx is now paying a fine of $13 million and agreeing to a system of compliance with recalls issued by the government.

Why Keep Selling?

Why would a manufacturer or retailer keep a product on the market even after a government issued recall? Profit; by some estimates the manufacturer of the sleepers here, Fisher-Price, earned over $200 million in revenue from the recalled products. Additionally, recalls can negatively affect a company’s reputation and create bad publicity.

However, T.J. Maxx says that the products were sold because of faulty control issues; that is, that they overlooked the recall accidentally and intended on removing the products.

This isn’t the first recall issued on products sold by T.J. Maxx or its affiliated companies. Recently the company pulled products that had ingredients in them that were not disclosed on the food labels, and a holiday lighting product was pulled after there was a risk of fire that was discovered. Most recently, swinging chairs were recalled, for risk that the chairs could detach and fall.

Not Every Defective Product is Recalled

Government recalls do not necessarily mean that a company needs to remove a product from its shelves. However, the fine against T.J. Maxx stems from the Consumer Product Safety Act, which does give the government the right to fine companies that sell defective or recalled products.

This is common with many recalled products. The failure to recall products can lead to violating laws that require manufacturers or retailers to comply with government agencies like the FDA, or the consumer product safety commission.

Remember that recalls are not the definitive answer on whether products are defective or they are not; in many cases, courts will find that a victim was injured by a defective product, even though the product has not been recalled.

Call the Clinton product liability lawyers at Fox Farley Willis & Burnette, PLLC, today if you were injured by a defective or recalled product.

Sources:

boston.com/news/business/2022/08/02/tjx-fined-tjmaxx-marshalls-homegoods-recall-framingham/

nbcnews.com/business/consumer/tj-maxx-recalled-infant-sleepers-13-million-fine-rcna41179

bestlifeonline.com/news-marshalls-chairs-recall/