Raynor Marketing Ltd., of West Hempstead, N.Y., has reached a settlement with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) regarding a defect involving office chairs it sold to consumers.
As part of the agreement, in which it denies allegations that it knowingly violated the law, Raynor will pay a civil penalty of $390,000.
In addition to the allegations that Raynor was aware of the chair defect -- as well incidents and injuries -- CPSC staff says the firm failed to report immediately to CPSC as required by federal law.
Recall announced
CPSC and Raynor Marketing Ltd. announced a recall of 150,000 office chairs in October 2009. Bolts attaching the seatback can loosen and detach, posing a fall and injury hazard to consumers. The chairs were imported between May 2006 and March 2009 for sale exclusively at Office Depot stores nationwide and on online at Office Depot.com.
Federal law requires manufacturers, distributors, and retailers to report to CPSC immediately (within 24 hours) after obtaining information reasonably supporting the conclusion that a product contains a defect which could create a substantial product hazard, creates an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death, or fails to comply with any consumer product safety rule or any other rule, regulation, standard, or ban enforced by CPSC.
