Target Faces Product Defect Lawsuit After Toddler is Nearly Dismembered in Potty Training Accident

A Riverside family has filed a product liability lawsuit against Target claiming that their 3-year-old son’s penis was nearly cut off by a dangerous potty trainer. According to a news report in The Press Enterprise, the plaintiffs, parents and grandparents of the boy, are seeking unspecified damages from Target and Southern California-based Prince Lionheart, maker of the weePOD Basix potty trainer.

Mutilating Injuries

The lawsuit filed by attorneys Kristensen Weisberg alleges that the boy’s penis was ripped nearly all the way around after being stuck to the squishy polypropulene potty trainer, which sells for $14.99 both in stores and on Target’s website. The family rushed the child to the emergency room when doctors glued his body part back on because the area is too sensitive for stitches. The lawsuit alleges negligence, product liability from defective design and failure to recall the product or warn consumers about the dangers of this product.

The lawsuit also alleges that Target knew about the dangers posed by this product, but did not issue a recall or warn consumers about it. In 2015, a Virginia mother reported that her son’s penis was cut off by the sharp bottom edge of the device. In the Riverside case, the child’s 12-year-old brother has also been named as a plaintiff because he witnessed the horrific injuries. The family still doesn’t know the long-term prognosis or if the child will be able to function normally.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to this child who suffered and endured this nightmarish incident and hope that he is able to make a complete recovery and function normally in the future.

Failure to Warn or Recall

It is appalling that the manufacturer of this product, Prince Lionheart, has failed to recall this product despite a similar incident more than two years ago in Virginia. It is unclear how many other children have suffered similar injuries as a result of this dangerous and defectively designed product. Not only do children face the danger of suffering a traumatic, disfiguring injury, but they could also be emotionally scarred for life as a result of being mutilated, of all things, by a potty trainer.

When parents purchase a product such as a potty trainer, they hope they help their young child, not permanently injure him or her. We hope the Consumer Product Safety Commission launches an investigation involving these potty trainers and comes up with a concrete action plan to protect our youngest consumers.

Source: http://www.ocregister.com/2017/12/07/target-sued-over-potty-trainer-that-nearly-dismembers-boy/