Troy Bozarth
Lowe's Home Centers has removed a proposed class action suit over dangling cords to federal court, but the retailer did not carry other defendants along.
Dozens of companies remain on the hook in Madison County on a claim that they made, distributed or sold window blinds with cords that dangled dangerously.
Plaintiffs Ronald Alsup, Robert Crews and Magnum Properties sued in February 2005, not on behalf of those who strangled but for those who did not strangle.
They proposed to represent a class of "hundreds of millions of individuals" who suffered in buying a dangerous product.
They named 62 defendants, but according to Lowe's Home Centers they served prompt notices to 28 defendants.
Lowe's Home Center received notice this Feb. 24, more than a year after plaintiffs sued, according to attorney Troy Bozarth of Edwardsville.
Bozarth filed a removal notice March 24, citing the late notice and arguing that Lowe's conducted itself under direction of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Illinois consumer fraud law prohibits an award of damages for conduct that federal agencies specifically authorized.
Notice of the suit also arrived a year too late at ShopKo, according to attorney Daniel Hefter. Rather than remove the case, he moved March 24 to dismiss.