Woman joins class-action crib lawsuit

HANOVER PARK, Ill., Sept. 25 (UPI) -- A suburban Chicago woman has joined a class-action lawsuit against Simplicity Inc. involving the recall of a million cribs.

Amber Spitzer of Hanover Park, Ill., said her 1-year-old daughter, Briana, had slept in one of the cribs models later recalled after the suffocation deaths of at least two children.

"My daughter is my life, and I would do anything to protect her and I know that there are millions of parents out there that feel the same way," she told The Chicago Tribune.

"So if the government won't protect our children, then I will," she said.

The lawsuit filed in Minneapolis names Simplicity and Target Corp., the retail chain that sold the crib, and Graco Children's Products Inc., which licensed its name to Simplicity for some of the recalled cribs.

Simplicity, Target and Graco had no immediate comment.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled 1 million Simplicity cribs sold from 1998 until May of this year.

Two infants, a 9-month-old and a 6-month-old, died after the drop-rail sides of their cribs were installed upside down, the agency said. It is investigating the death of a third child in a newer-style crib that is not part of the recall.

Simplicity, of Reading, Pa., will offer crib owners a repair package to fix the problem.

Company President Ken Waldman refused to say if customers who requested a refund would be reimbursed.