US class action: The STURDY Act
What is the STURDY Act?
The Stop Tip-overs of Unstable, Risky Dressers on Youth Act, known as the STURDY Act, is a piece of consumer protection legislation that was passed by the US Congress in December 2022.
The Act requires the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to update its safety standards for freestanding clothes storage to stop them tipping over and injuring young children.
Campaigners have been urging lawmakers for years to improve safety standards and CSPC data suggests there have been at least 84,000 injuries caused by toppling furniture since 2006, including as many as 200 child deaths. Millions of products have been recalled over the last two decades.
Are there any STURDY-Act related class action lawsuits?
Plaintiff attorneys across the United States have established practices suing stores and manufacturers over furniture that has caused death and injury. For example, Ikea has reached a number of multimillion dollar settlements with the families of children killed by toppling furniture. While the new standard should reduce the number of injuries caused by furniture, the standards will help attorneys bring cases when incidents occur.
Questions and answers
Q: What are the biggest group action lawsuit claims?
A: It depends on how ‘biggest’ is defined. Merricks v Mastercard potentially represents every adult in the UK, so millions of people. The Tobacco Master Settlement in the US was worth more than $200 billion.
Q: What does group action software do?
A: Click here for more details of FinLegal’s claims handling software.
Q: Is group action software and mass tort software the same as claims manager software?
A: FinLegal’s claims handling software can be used by lawyers and claims managers, as well as potential claimants who can self-serve using tablets, phones and laptops. Click here for more details of FinLegal’s claims handling software.
Q: What is a claims management platform?
A: A claims management platform is a web-based software solution for managing class action litigation. FinLegal’s claims handling software can be used by lawyers and claims managers, as well as potential claimants who can self-serve using tablets, phones and laptops. Click here for more details of FinLegal’s claims handling software.
Q: What are the largest class actions lawsuits/biggest group actions settlements of all time? How big are big group claim settlements?
A: As class actions involve many people, even a small per person payment can lead to a big group claim settlement. However, the biggest ever class action lawsuit was the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement of 1998, a case brought against the four largest cigarette manufacturers in the US. The total settlement was more than $200 billion. Class action settlements, in total, are rarely small. $200 billion is by far the largest, and no other claims to date have come near that figure.
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