Product Liability Lawsuit Blair Chenille Robes’ Wrongful Death Fires

In California, Evelyn Rogoff was fixing herself hot tea on an electric stove when her chenille robe caught fire. Her husband attempted to smother the flames. He would die in the pursuing months from the attempt but not before hearing that his wife had passed. She had survived breast cancer; she could not survive the unsafe product that caused her third-degree burns and took her and her husband’s life. That product was a Blair chenille robe.

Meanwhile, survivors of a mother whose Blair chenille robe likewise caught fire leading to her injury and subsequent death have filed a wrongful death lawsuit and product liability claim against the manufacturer. The late Atwilda Brown was in her kitchen, presumably cooking, when her Blair robe caught fire and killed her in 2005. Ms. Brown is one of six persons to suffer fatal burns from a chenille robe, the majority of whom are elderly women who died while cooking and wearing the dangerous product.

The recalled Blair robes were manufactured in Pakistan by A-One Textile & Towel and distributed by Blair online, through Blair Catalogs, and at the Blair company’s Pennsylvania and Delaware stores. Blair has issued two recalls since April this year for roughly 300,000 flammable chenille products it sells. These include chenille full-length robes, chenille jackets, and chenille tops. The initial recall in April mentioned three reports of robes catching fire, one of which caused to second-degree burn injuries.

The recalled clothing does not meet federal flammability standards, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

Ms. Brown had purchased her robe three weeks prior to her death from what the death certificate lists as fatal injury “from clothing catching on fire.” With her product liability lawsuit, her daughter seeks to garner public attention to this hazardous product that may still be being worn unknowing by loved ones.

If you have been injured by a defective product that a seller or manufacturer knew or should have known was defective or dangerous, I encourage you to speak with one of Higgins Law Firm’s personal injury attorneys. Our Nashville, TN law offices pursue claims throughout Tennessee, as well as select product liability and wrongful death cases in Kentucky and Georgia.