Settlement Reached in Buckyball Lawsuit, Founder Agrees to Product Recall

On Monday, May 12th, the Consumer Product Safety Commission reached an agreement with the creator of Buckyballs to issue a product recall for the small, powerfully magnetic toys.

The lawsuit against Buckyballs claimed that, because the toys were small and the magnets were incredibly powerful, the toy created “an unreasonable risk of injury” to children, who could potentially swallow them. The magnets could attract each other inside the intestines, causing dangerous obstructions and damage to internal organs.

The CSPC has been issuing product recalls for magnetic toys since July 2012. Although many of the products have been described as toys for adults, the CSPC successfully argued that children could still get hold of them.

Under the settlement agreement, creator and founder of Buckyballs, Craig Zucker, agreed to put $375,000 into a trust for the product recall that the CSPC will control. Both Buckyballs and their spin-off Buckycubes will be under product recall, and the CSPC will use money from the trust to refund customers that wish to return their recalled toys.

Zucker’s company, Maxfield & Oberton Holdings LLC, was dissolved in 2012 in response to the product recall lawsuit.

“The law does not support an individual being named in a case like this and I hope that this settlement will discourage the CPSC from wrongfully pursuing individual officers and entrepreneurs again in the future,” Zucker said in a statement.

The CPSC said in a statement on Monday that the product recall will “protect children and teenagers from the risk of injury that can occur when multiple magnets are ingested.”

Defective Product Recalls and Personal Injury in South Carolina

Every year, thousands of consumers sustain serious injuries from defective products, and improper or delayed product recalls. Many of these injuries could be avoided if the manufacturers or distributors of these products took additional steps to ensure consumer safety, such as issuing product recalls in a timely fashion. Although any product could be subject to a recall due to improper testing, some of the most common product recalls are for automobiles and automotive parts, drugs and medical devices, and children’s toys. There are a number of reasons that defective products make it to our shelves:

• Defective manufacturing
• Inadequate testing
• Design defects
• Marketing Misrepresentation

To protect yourself and your family, it’s important to know what products have been recalled because they are defective or unsafe. Federal agencies such as the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and the CPSC (U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission) frequently issue product recalls for medical devices, drugs, and products that may be harmful to consumers.

The Strom Law Firm Protects Citizens Harmed by Delayed Defective Product Recalls

The attorneys at the Strom Law Firm keep a close watch on recalls of dangerous and defective product recalls in the US. We aim to protect our clients’ health and safety, and hold manufacturers to the highest possible standard of safety. If you or a loved one have experienced severe, life-limiting side effects from a defective product or drug, and believe that your pain stems from a product recall that came too late, you may be entitled to compensation. The Strom Law Firm can help. We offer free, confidential consultations to discuss the facts of your case, so contact us today. 803.252.4800.