An 80-year-old woman died of her injuries a month after being confined in a Sleep Number bed for two days, according to a lawsuit filed by her daughter.
According to court documents obtained by PEOPLE, Angela Moan is suing Sleep Number Corporations and Leggett & Platt Incorporated, which designed, manufactured, marketed, sold, and warrantied the bed, after her mother, Rosalind Walker, 80, died on April 3, 2023.
According to the paperwork filed on Tuesday, December 10 in St. Louis County, Walker acquired the Sleep Number bed, which came with a 25-year warranty, on October 19, 2014, in Brentwood, Missouri.
Walker became trapped in her Godfrey, Illinois home on March 1, 2023, with the bed’s “adjustable foundation in a raised position,” according to the lawsuit.
“Mrs. Walker was between the raised Sleep Number Bed and the wall of her bedroom,” the suit said, adding that the bed “lowered without warning.”
According to the records, Walker “remained trapped” there for two days before being released by emergency responders on March 3, 2023.
“She was rushed to the hospital, transferred to a rehabilitation facility, and then brought home on hospice. She suffered the entire time until her death on April 3, 2023,” the suit added, claiming that the bed sold did not have an adequate warning that something like this could happen and “did not have adequate instructions or cautionary language in the instructions or on the bed, alerting Mrs. Walker not to go between the bed and the wall as she could be trapped.”
According to the paperwork, the bed “lowered with such force as to trap Mrs. Walker,” and the complaint also claims that the bed lacked “an appropriate release mechanism which would have allowed Mrs. Walker to free herself from her trapped position.”
The suit also claimed that the bed “had a timer” that led it “to decline without any physical input or warning from Mrs. Walker.”
“This negligence was the proximate cause of Mrs. Walker’s injuries [and] suffering” before she died, according to the suit. The plaintiff is seeking compensation for her mother’s “predeath suffering and injuries, for the related medical bills, and for the loss of her mother’s society.”
Moan asks for an “amount that is fair and reasonable and in excess of the jurisdictional amount of $25,000 and for any and all other relief this Court deems just and proper under the circumstances,” according to the application.
A Sleep Number representative told KMOV, “Sleep Number is aware of the recent lawsuit filed against the company and Leggett and Platt, the manufacturer of its adjustable base.”
“The suit alleges that a malfunctioning adjustable base purchased in 2014 was a contributing factor in the death of Rosalind Walker,” according to the statement. “We understand that this incident is supposed to have occurred in March 2023; we learned of the purported incident after the lawsuit was filed yesterday, December 10. We send our heartfelt sympathies to Ms. Walker’s family on this awful loss.”
“Currently, our legal team is analyzing the lawsuit. “Sleep Number stands by the design and safety of its products and will cooperate with any necessary inquiries or actions,” the statement added.