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[Federal Register: June 28, 2011 (Volume 76, Number 124)]
[Notices]               
[Page 37793-37794]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr28jn11-60]                         

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CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION

[CPSC Docket No. 11-C0005]

 
Viking Range Corporation, Provisional Acceptance of a Settlement 
Agreement and Order

AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: It is the policy of the Commission to publish settlements 
which it provisionally accepts under the Consumer Product Safety Act in 
the Federal Register in accordance with the terms of 16 CFR 1118.20(e). 
Published below is a provisionally-accepted Settlement Agreement with 
Viking Range Corporation, containing a civil penalty of $450,000.00.

DATES: Any interested person may ask the Commission not to accept this 
agreement or otherwise comment on its contents by filing a written 
request with the Office of the Secretary by July 13, 2011.

ADDRESSES: Persons wishing to comment on this Settlement Agreement 
should send written comments to the Comment 11-C0005, Office of the 
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission, 4330 East West Highway, 
Room 820, Bethesda, Maryland 20814-4408.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William J. Moore, Trial Attorney, 
Division of Enforcement and Information, Office of the General Counsel, 
Consumer Product Safety Commission, 4330 East West Highway, Bethesda, 
Maryland 20814-4408; telephone (301) 504-7583.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The text of the Agreement and Order appears 
below.

    Dated: June 21, 2011.
Todd A. Stevenson,
Secretary.

Settlement Agreement

    1. In accordance with 16 CFR 1118.20, Viking Range Corporation 
(``Viking'') and the staff (``Staff'') of the United States Consumer 
Product Safety Commission (``Commission'') hereby enter into this 
Settlement Agreement (``Agreement'') under the Consumer Product Safety 
Act (``CPSA''). The Agreement and the incorporated attached Order 
resolve the Staff's allegations set forth below.

The Parties

    2. The Staff is the staff of the Consumer Product Safety 
Commission, an independent federal regulatory agency established 
pursuant to, and responsible for, the enforcement of the CPSA, 15 
U.S.C. 2051-2089.
    3. Viking is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of 
the State of Mississippi, with its principal corporate office located 
at 111 W. Front Street, Greenwood, Mississippi.

Staff Allegations

    4. Between 1999 and April 2006, Viking manufactured and distributed 
approximately forty-five thousand (45,000) built-in, 48 inch, side-by-
side refrigerators and 36 inch refrigerators with bottom freezers under 
the Viking brand name (the ``Refrigerators''). The Refrigerators were 
sold nationwide through retailers and authorized Viking distributors 
for between $4,700 and $6,400.
    5. The Refrigerators are ``consumer products'' and, at all times 
relevant hereto, Viking was a ``manufacturer'' of these consumer 
products, which were ``distributed in commerce,'' as those terms are 
defined or used in sections 3(a)(5), (8) and (11) of the CPSA, 15 
U.S.C. 2052(a)(5), (8) and (11).
    6. The Refrigerators are defective because the ``tower'' hinges 
attaching the Refrigerator door to the cabinet can detach, allowing the 
door to fall on consumers.
    7. Viking received its first complaints involving hinge failure in 
January 2001 and introduced redesigned hinges by January 2002.
    8. By September 2006, Viking stopped using the ``tower'' hinge on 
new production. By April 2008, Viking had received eight injury 
complaints. In April 2008, Viking developed a new field repair fix kit 
for consumers whose refrigerators exhibited problems with the hinges.
    9. Despite being aware of the information set forth in Paragraphs 
six through eight, Viking did not report to the Commission until April 
of 2009. By that time, Viking was aware of at least ten injury reports 
involving Refrigerator hinge failures. The Refrigerators were recalled 
in June of 2009.
    10. Although Viking had obtained sufficient information to 
reasonably support the conclusion that the Refrigerators contained a 
defect which could create a substantial product hazard, or created an 
unreasonable risk of serious injury or death, Viking failed to 
immediately inform the Commission of such defect or risk as required by 
sections 15(b)(3) and (4) of the CPSA, 15 U.S.C. 2064(b)(3) and (4). In 
failing to do so, Viking knowingly violated section 19(a)(4) of the 
CPSA, 15 U.S.C. 2068(a)(4) as the term ``knowingly'' is defined in 
section 20(d) of the CPSA, 15 U.S.C. 2069(d).
    11. Pursuant to section 20 of the CPSA, 15 U.S.C. 2069, Viking is 
subject to civil penalties for its knowing failure to report as 
required under section 15(b) of the CPSA, 15 U.S.C. 2064(b).

Response of Viking Range Corporation

    12. Viking denies the allegations of the Staff that the 
Refrigerators contain a defect which could create a substantial product 
hazard or create an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death, and 
denies that it violated the reporting requirements of Section 15(b) of 
the CPSA, 15 U.S.C. 2064(b).

Agreement of the Parties

    13. Under the CPSA, the Commission has jurisdiction over this 
matter and over Viking.

[[Page 37794]]

    14. In settlement of the Staff's allegations, Viking shall pay a 
civil penalty in the amount of four hundred fifty thousand dollars 
($450,000.00) within twenty (60) calendar days of receiving service of 
the Commission's final Order accepting the Agreement. The payment shall 
be made electronically to the CPSC via http://www.pay.gov.
    15. The parties enter into this Agreement for settlement purposes 
only. The Agreement does not constitute an admission by Viking or a 
determination by the Commission that Viking violated the CPSA's 
reporting requirements.
    16. Upon provisional acceptance of the Agreement by the Commission, 
the Agreement shall be placed on the public record and published in the 
Federal Register in accordance with the procedures set forth in 16 CFR 
1118.20(e). If the Commission does not receive any written request not 
to accept the Agreement within fifteen (15) calendar days, the 
Agreement shall be deemed finally accepted on the 16th calendar day 
after the date it is published in the Federal Register, in accordance 
with 16 CFR 1118.20(f).
    17. Upon the Commission's final acceptance of the Agreement and 
issuance of the final Order, Viking knowingly, voluntarily and 
completely waives any rights it may have in this matter to the 
following: (i) An administrative or judicial hearing; (ii) judicial 
review or other challenge or contest of the Commission's actions; (iii) 
a determination by the Commission as to whether Viking failed to comply 
with the CPSA and the underlying regulations; (iv) a statement of 
findings of fact and conclusions of law; and (v) any claims under the 
Equal Access to Justice Act.
    18. The Commission may publicize the terms of the Agreement and the 
Order.
    19. The Agreement and the Order shall apply to and be binding upon 
Viking and each of its successors and/or assigns.
    20. The Commission issues the Order under the provisions of the 
CPSA, and a violation of the Order may subject Viking and each of its 
successors and/or assigns to appropriate legal action.
    21. The Agreement may be used in interpreting the Order. 
Understandings, agreements, representations or interpretations apart 
from those contained in the Agreement and the Order may not be used to 
vary or contradict their terms. The Agreement shall not be waived, 
amended, modified or otherwise altered without written agreement 
thereto executed by the party against whom such waiver, amendment, 
modification or alteration is sought to be enforced.
    22. If any provision of the Agreement or the Order is held to be 
illegal, invalid or unenforceable under present or future laws 
effective during the terms of the Agreement and the Order, such 
provision shall be fully severable. The balance of the Agreement and 
the Order shall remain in full force and effect, unless the Commission 
and Viking agree that severing the provision materially affects the 
purpose of the Agreement and the Order.

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                        VIKING RANGE CORPORATION
Dated: 5/19/11

By: Fred Carl, Jr., President and Chairman of the Board, Viking Range
 Corporation, 111 W. Front Street, Greenwood, MS 38930.
Dated: 5/20/11
By: Michael J. Gidding, Esquire, Brown & Gidding PC, 3201 New Mexico
 Avenue, NW, Suite 242, Washington, DC 20016-2756, Counsel for Viking
 Range Corporation.
              U.S. CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION STAFF
Cheryl A. Falvey, General Counsel.
Mary B. Murphy, Assistant General Counsel
Dated: 6/17/11
By: William J. Moore, Jr, Trial Attorney, Division of Compliance, Office
 of the General Counsel.
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Order

    Upon consideration of the Settlement Agreement entered into between 
Viking Range Corporation (``Viking''), and the U.S. Consumer Product 
Safety Commission (``Commission'') staff, and the Commission having 
jurisdiction over the subject matter and over Viking, and it appearing 
that the Settlement Agreement and the Order are in the public interest, 
it is
    Ordered that the Settlement Agreement be, and is, hereby, accepted; 
and it is
    Further Ordered that Viking shall pay a civil penalty in the amount 
of four hundred fifty thousand dollars ($450,000.00) within sixty (60) 
days of service of the Commission's final Order accepting the 
Settlement Agreement. The payment shall be made by electronically to 
the CPSC via http://www.pay.gov. Upon the failure of Viking to make the 
foregoing payment when due, interest on the unpaid amount shall accrue 
and be paid by Viking at the federal legal rate of interest set forth 
at 28 U.S.C. 1961(a) and (b).

    Provisionally accepted and provisional Order issued on the 17th 
day of June, 2011.

    By Order of the Commission.

Todd A. Stevenson,

Secretary, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

[FR Doc. 2011-16198 Filed 6-27-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6355-01-P
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