The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has announced that Home Depot U.S.A., Inc. will pay a $5.7 million civil penalty for selling recalled products. This agreement settles claims that that the home improvement giant knowingly sold and distributed nearly 3,000 recalled items involved in 33 separate voluntary recalls between August 2012 and November 2016.
It is important to note that the selling, distribution, or offering for sale of consumer products that are the subject of a publicly announced voluntary corrective action (a recall) is prohibited by federal law.
The CPSC charged that Home Depot’s procedures failed to identify, quarantine, and prevent the sale/distribution of potentially dangerous recalled products. The items were sold in Home Depot stores off of store shelves, through sales for salvage, on the internet, and distributed through donation programs.
Hazards posed by the recalled products include fire hazards, laceration hazards, electrocution and shock hazards, and others.
Recalled items that were sold/distributed to consumers include:
In addition to paying the $5.7M civil penalty, Home Depot must maintain a complicance program to ensure that consumer products deemed unfit for the retail market by the CPSC do not remain on store shelves and are properly disposed of.
It is incredibly sloppy and lazy corporate behavior by Home Depot, Inc. to allow Home Depot stores to keep recalled products on their store shelves. Consumers depend on manufacturers and distributors to offer safe and effective products that do not pose dangerous hazards to their health and well-being, and that perform in the way the product is promised to perform. Three thousand recalled items sold or distributed have the potential to injure over 3,000 Home Depot customers. Hopefully, a multi-million dollar punitive penalty will encourage and inspire Home Depot to forcibly maintain their compliance program in an effort to avoid incidents like this in the future.
The Philadelphia personal injury attorneys at Messa & Associates are experienced with cases involving defective products. If you or a loved one has been injured by a defective or faulty product, contact the Philadelphia personal injury attorneys at Messa & Associates, P.C. for a free consultation by calling 877-MessaLaw. You can also submit an inquiry online for a free case evaluation. Let Messa & Associates earn you the compensation you deserve.
Joseph L. Messa, Jr. is the founding partner of Messa & Associates, P.C. He is an AV-rated attorney (highest rating available), listed in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers. Read More