Women’s Robes Recalled After Six Fire Deaths

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has recalled a popular chenille robe made by Blair LLC (in Pakistan) after six deaths of women after the robes caught fire. Five of the women were cooking at the time when the Blair Full Length Chenille Robes allegedly caught on fire.

The robes, made in Pakistan, are one-piece garments with the following item numbers: 3093111, 3093112, 3093113, 3093114, 3093115, and 3093116. They were sold in Blair catalogs and on the company Web site, as well as Blair stores. The story has issued the recall notice.

We have seen many torts cases where companies were successfully sued for such a risk of fire, particularly with children’s pajamas. A product can be deemed defective if it is highly or unusually flammable.

The Limited Inc. agreed to pay $500,000 in fines for selling flammable pajamas in 2001. The government regulates such fabrics under the the Federal Flammable Fabrics Act. Violation of those flammable regulations would create a possible negligent per se claim in these wrongful death cases.

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