Welcome to the July edition of the Alston & Bird CPSC Recall Snapshot.

The CPSC has announced two major recalls in the last month impacting millions of products. The most recent of these major recalls is the July 6 recall of over 500,000 hoverboards manufactured or sold by 10 different companies. The remedy ranges from repair, to replacement, to refund, depending on the brand at issue. The CPSC press release notes that there have been at least 99 reported incidents of hoverboards overheating, smoking or catching on fire.

The second major recall – one of the largest recalls in history - is the June 28 recall of 29 million dressers and chests sold in the U.S. (plus an additional 6.6 million in Canada). As part of the recall, consumers are entitled to a full refund for chests and dressers manufactured between January 2002 and June 2016. Consumers with chests and dressers manufactured before January 2002 will be eligible for a partial store credit.

In addition to announcing this large product recall, the CPSC announced two civil penalties in June totaling $8.25 million. With these two civil penalties, the total civil penalties for this year already eclipse the total civil penalties assessed in 2015. No civil penalty this year has been less than $3.75 million.