Products Liability Law Reporter

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that plaintiff-bed owners did not state a plausible claim for relief in a products liability suit arising out the development of mold in their bed.

Diana King and her daughter, Savana King, brought a products liability lawsuit against Select Comfort Corp. and Sleep Number Corp., claiming that in 2017, they had discovered mold in a bed purchased in 2001. The defendants moved successfully for dismissal.

Affirming, the Ninth Circuit held that under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6), a complaint must allege enough facts to state a claim for relief that is plausible on its face. Citing case law, the court found that the plaintiffs were required to allege that their bed was defectively designed, defectively manufactured, or sold without sufficient warnings and that this led to their injuries. The plaintiffs alleged only that they had discovered mold in their bed in 2017 but did not assert facts tending to exclude the possibility that the mold grew naturally and did not result from a product defect. Moreover, the court said, the 15-year gap between the purchase of the bed and the discovery of the mold runs counter to the plaintiffs’ purported argument that the mold resulted from a design or manufacturing defect.

Consequently, the court concluded that the trial court had not erred in dismissing the complaint.

Citation: King v. Select Comfort Corp., 2020 WL 5946760 (9th Cir. Oct. 7, 2020).