Ikea has agreed to pay $46 million to the parents of a California toddler who was crushed to death by one of the company’s dressers.
Lawyers for Joleen and Craig Dudek — whose son, Jozef, was killed in 2017 — announced the settlement on Monday, saying they believe it is the largest for a wrongful death of a child in U.S. history. Ikea had paid $50 million in 2016 to three families in a similar lawsuit, where toppled furniture resulted in deaths of their children.
On May 24, 2017, Craig went to check on Jozef in a bedroom when he found his son trapped under Ikea’s 70-pound Malm dresser, according to the lawsuit. Jozef died later that day from “asphyxia caused by mechanical compression of the neck.”
