Sofa Injuries

Customers of the Home Retail Group (Argos and Homebase), Land of Leather, and Walmsley’s Furnishings, who have bought leather sofas may be unaware that they may suffer skin allergies rashes, burns, skin irritation, blistering, eczema and contact dermatitis when exposed to the furniture manufactured by a company called Linkwise, in China, and sold throughout the UK.

Full evidence is yet awaited, but from preliminary tests it would appear that an anti-mould-proofing agent placed within the suites to keep the leather protected and known as di-methyl fumarate (DMF) is the causative agent.

The mould-proofing agent DMF has the ability to convert from a solid to a gaseous form and escape from the sachets when exposed to sunlight, or when there is an increase in the ambient room temperature. Most of the reported cases of sofa dermatitis have occurred during the warmer weather and when there is body contact with the impregnated leather there is an increase risk of developing sensitisation. Acquiring contact sensitivity is unpredictable and not genetically determined, therefore, perhaps one exposed member of a family may experience problems, whilst other family members do not develop any reaction whatsoever from the sofas.

Even when individuals place rugs on their sofas it does not prevent them experiencing ongoing symptoms, as DMF permeates through the coverings, reaches the skin and causes a reaction in a sensitive individual.

In the majority of cases, individuals and their medical advisors do not associate the sofa as being the cause of their symptoms and this is primarily because when sitting on a contaminated sofa an individual would not suffer an immediate reaction. Any reaction occurring would take between 1 and 7 days to show itself and could then persist for up to 3 weeks following the first reaction.

As no cause and effect is obvious, there are potentially many hundreds of people who are unaware of the cause of their skin problems and possible respiratory problems, such as exacerbated asthma.

Hundreds of claims have been made against Argos,  Homebase, Land of Leather and Walmsley’s Furniture. A Claimants’ Solicitors Group, of which we are part, has started group litigation proceedings.

Our partner, Andrew Charuk, has been instructed by more than nine hundred people throughout the UK in relation to the group litigation and if you, or a member of your family, have purchased any of the affected items from any of the above mentioned companies or you may have visited a relative or family friend who has purchased one of the relevant items, and have suffered injury as a result, please get in touch with us.

Andrew can be contacted for free advice on 0800 138 5396.