Lawsuit Talk Over Baby Clothes
Parents claim Carter's clothing causes rash
By ANA GARCIA and FRED MAMOUN
Updated 1:25 PM PST, Mon, Jan 26, 2009
Three California families. Three similar stories about how they believe their babies were harmed by wearing Carter's baby clothes.
John Kunze of San Francisco said a rash appeared on his daughter's back after wearing Carter's clothing.
"It was bright red. It was oozing, weeping. It was just bad." Amy Muir experienced a similar problem with her son. She says, "I started to pull and the skin came off with his pajamas."
Lindsey Webb of West Covina says her daughter Kayliegh wore Carter's clothes almost every day. The rash first appeared shortly after coming home from the hospital and seemed like a burn or welt.
After nine months of "pain and suffering," Webb says Kayliegh's rash still hasn't healed. Webb says she didn't make the connection between the rash and the clothing until she saw Ana Garcia's report. Garcia first broke the news of potential problems with Carter's clothes last September. As she uncovered, the problem appears to be linked to plastic-like tag-less labels on the inside of the clothes.
Not long after the first investigation aired, the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a warning to parents that some Carter's tag-less labels were causing rashes in a small percentage of babies. Carter's has maintained that their products are safe and the rashes are nothing more than rare allergic reactions.
The Kunze family says their daughter's rash first appeared when their daughter Ava was just six weeks old. It lasted for five months. They say, "We saw the first NBC investigative piece and that's when we had the 'ah-ha' moment correlating this injury to Carter's tag-less."
But by that time, the Kunzes say Ava had been suffering for months, had been to the emergency room twice, and racked up ten thousand dollars in medical bills.
Janet Kunze says, "I can't tell you how frustrated I was because this could have all been avoided had they disclosed at least a warning that these were hazardous clothes."
The Kunze family received a handwritten apology from Carter's CEO, but they want more. Janet Kunze thinks Carter's should formally recall the clothes. She says, "I don't think an advisory or issuing public statements on their website is enough."
Lindsey Webb, the West Covina mom, is taking it one step further. She's signing onto a class action lawsuit being mounted by the Arkansas firm of Emerson Poynter, alleging Carter's didn't disclose the potential danger. Webb maintains, "Carter's needs to be held accountable."
A Carter's spokeswoman says they've heard about the lawsuit, but they haven't been served yet. Carter's says the problem is limited to the fall 2007 line. The company admits complaints jumped after the government warning, but they say their products meet the highest safety and quality standards and are compliant with all laws and regulations.
In the meantime, Carter's says they will refund your money if you send them back the clothes.
First Published: Nov 7, 2008 4:45 PM PST
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