Toy Company Fined $1.1 Million Dollars for Failing to Report Known Hazard
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced today that Henry Gordy International, Inc. (Henry Gordy), of has agreed to pay a civil penalty of $1,100,000.
The settlement arose out of CPSC allegations that Henry Gordy knowingly failed to report the safety defect and hazard with the “Auto Fire Target Set” immediately to CPSC, as required by federal law. CPSC also alleges that the firm made a material misrepresentation to CPSC during the course of the investigation.
CPSC officials said that Henry Gordy knew on or about May 2006 that the target set was defective and could cause harm, but failed to report this to CPSC. CPSC reports that the target set is defective because if a child places the soft, pliable, plastic toy dart into his or her mouth, the toy can be inhaled into the throat and can prevent the child from breathing.
CPSC staff also alleges that Henry Gordy made a material misrepresentation to the staff in the course of the staff’s investigation into the target sets in May 2009 by not reporting all of the information Henry Gordy was then aware of.
In May 2010, Family Dollar Stores, Inc. and CPSC announced the recall of about 1.8 million Auto Fire Target Sets because Henry Gordy refused to conduct the recall. By that time, there were three deaths associated with the target set. Auto Fire Target Sets were sold exclusively by Family Dollar between September 2005 and January 2009 for about $1.50 each. Each set came with a toy gun; soft, pliable, plastic toy darts and a small target. Photographs of the target set can be found at: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml12/12010.html
