£20m pay-out for 'toxic sofa' chemical burn victims
A number of High Street chains have agreed to pay up to £20m to 2,000 people who received chemical burns from anti-fungal agents in sofas. The victims are expected to get £1,200-£9,000 each plus other expenses for loss of weddings, holidays and wages. The £20m figure includes legal costs, as well as compensation.
The group that owns Argos and Homebase, furniture chain Walmsleys and other smaller firms had admitted liability for selling the Chinese-made sofas. Some Land of Leather customers will not get a pay-out, after an earlier ruling.
Mr Justice MacDuff was told in court that a "claims handling agreement" had been reached that did not resolve the whole of the litigation, but would "open the way to swift compensation for many hundreds" of people. There will be another hearing on 21 May 2010 when 2,500 further cases will be considered.
DMF chemical burned through clothes
Up to 100,000 of the sofas were sold with "highly sensitising" fungicidal chemical dimethyl fumarate (DMF) inside. The substance was designed to stop the furniture, manufactured by Chinese companies Linkwise and Eurosofa, going mouldy in storage. When the sofas went into people's homes the solid sachets turned into gas that burned through clothes and on to skin.
Toxic Sofa Symptoms
The claimants were said to have suffered severe skin burns, eye complaints, breathing difficulties or other medical conditions.
Kim Smerdon, a leading personal injury solicitor at Reading based law firm Boyes Turner said "We are acting for hundreds of people who have been injured and burned by these "toxic sofas" and we believe that many sofas are still in use with DMF in them. If you are already suffering from or start to develop symptoms you should seek urgent medical advice. If you have not yet registered a claim we urge you to seek legal advice as soon as possible - time is running out to bring a claim."
Consistent with our policy when giving comment and advice on a non-specific basis, we cannot assume legal responsibility for the accuracy of any particular statement. In the case of specific problems we recommend that professional advice be sought.
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