LONDON?A British court says hundreds of people who received chemical burns from leather sofas will share 20 million pounds, or about $30 million, in compensation. The customers took legal action after claiming of skin and eye complaints or breathing difficulties from the Chinese-made furniture, dubbed ³toxic sofas.² The problems were blamed on dimethyl fumarate, a fungicide designed to stop the furniture from becoming mouldy. The European Union banned the chemical last year. Lawyers told a judge at London¹s High Court on Monday that agreement had been reached between the plaintiffs and a company that owns several furniture retailers. It will see 1,650 victims receive up to 9,000 pounds, or about $14,000, apiece. Legal action continues in 3,000 other cases.
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14 years ago