Class Action Settlements: Mattel Toys Lead Paint
Mattel is the world’s largest toy company by revenue. It produces Sesame Street toys, Barbie dolls and accessories, Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars, Dora the Explorer, Polly Pockets, Batman, Sarge cars and other popular children’s toys.
In 2007, on three separate occasions, Mattel was forced to issue recalls on some of its more popular toys based on tests that revealed its products contained lead or lead paint in violation of federal standards. USA Today reported in its September 18, 2007, issue that, in some instances, toys were found to have up to 180 times the federal maximum standard permitted. Millions of Mattel toys were made in China during this period. Even in minute amounts, lead has been found to be a contributing cause of learning disabilities and behavioral problems in children as well as causing irreversible brain damage.
The recall also involved magnets on some of Mattel toys that children could loosen and ingest, causing severe intestinal damage in children.
On August 20, 2007, a class action suit was filed in California against Mattel and its subsidiary, Fisher-Price, along with other retailers, alleging breach of implied warranty, negligence, strict liability, unjust enrichment and violation of laws relating to the recall of the lead-based toys.
A settlement was reached on March 20, 2010, affecting 1.5 million class members. The settlement was estimated to be more than $50 million with $13 million distributed among the active law firms involved in the case. The terms included reimbursement or vouchers to people who had purchased the recalled Mattel or Fisher-Price toys in 2006 or 2007 due to lead or lead paint, as well as the magnets that were recalled, and reimbursement to parents for each child tested for lead content in his or her blood.
One year earlier, Mattel had paid $12 million to 39 states for their investigation of the lead-based toys. The company had also paid a $2.3 million penalty for the federal lead-paint violation.
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