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A manufacturer of children's pajamas, the fabric of which was
100 percent untreated cotton flannelette, stopped making the highly
flammable garment after a Minnesota jury ordered the company to
pay compensatory and punitive damages to a 4-year-old girl who
had been badly burned when her pajama top caught fire.
The child was injured when she reached across an electric stove
to shut off a timer. Her pajama top instantly ignited and she
suffered second- and third-degree burns over her upper body. Her
scars are permanent and she has required several skin grafting
procedures.
The Minnesota Supreme Court, in upholding the jury award of $750,000
for compensatory damages and $1 million for punitive damages,
held that the manufacturer was "uniquely aware" that
its product was highly flammable. The court noted that pajamas
made of newsprint burned only slightly faster than the flannelette
pajamas. The company was well aware of the garment's flammability
since several other claims had been filed against it by consumers
who had been injured in fires.
The court quoted one top company official as saying that the
company was "always sitting on somewhat of a powder keg"
concerning the product's flammability. Another company official
acknowledged that flannelette was not treated with flame-retardant
chemicals because of costs, even though the court noted that such
treatment would have been economically feasible.
Although the manufacturer complied with the then-existing standards
of the federal Flammable Fabrics Act, the court held that the
company was not insulated from punitive damages since it knew
the flammability test required by the Act was unreliable. The
Act has since been amended to provide for more stringent regulation
of fabric in children's sleepwear.
Gryc v. Dayton Hudson Corp., 297 N.W.2d 727 (Minn. 1980), cert.
denied, 101 S. Ct. 320 (1980).
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