Customers are alleging in a class action lawsuit that their Zinus mattresses contaminated their homes with fiberglass particles. The company denies the allegations, says its mattresses are safe and are in compliance with all government regulations.
It was a mystery one concerned mother had to solve: why was her daughter waking up with cuts on her legs and red, blotchy skin? Vanessa Gutierrez was shocked when she says that the source of the injuries was her mattress leaking out fiberglass particles.
And Gutierrez is not alone. She’s now part of a class action lawsuit represented by Cueto Personal Injury Law Firm against the maker of the mattress, Zinus. The brand is sold at Amazon, Walmart, Target and other stores.
“I started going down to negative reviews on Amazon on the Zinus review for this mattress and it said fiberglass. And I couldn't believe I was sleeping on it,” Gutierrez said.
Fiberglass, which is commonly used in mattresses as a fire retardant, had apparently leaked out, Gutierrez said, allegedly cutting into her 6-month-old daughter Annalia’s skin and leaving tiny fiberglass particles everywhere.
“This is our clothes. This is many years of clothes that we accumulated over the years, but it's all trash,” Gutierrez said.
Families across the country say their mattresses have also wreaked havoc on their lives. Inside Edition spoke to several people who say fiberglass in their Zinus mattress contaminated their homes.
“My husband, he took a flashlight and noticed that there was shiny stuff all over our house. We had to end up throwing out all of our stuff,” one customer told Inside Edition.
“I had trash bags full of comforters, bedding, clothes, lined up in the living room to throw out," another customer said.
Much of the contamination apparently took place when people unzipped the mattress cover to wash it, causing the fiberglass to spread everywhere.
“There is a zipper on it. You would think you could wash it if there's a zipper on it,” a fourth customer told Inside Edition.
Zinus denies any wrongdoing in connection with the class action suit. Zinus says it clearly warns consumers not to take off the cover off their mattress, including placing a tag on the cover that says not to remove it. The manufacturer insists its mattresses are safe and says that its mattresses are in compliance with all government regulations, adding that the fiberglass used in its mattresses is standard in the mattress industry and is an effective fire retardant. They also say they have thousands of satisfied customers.
But based on her experience, Gutierrez urges everyone to be on the lookout for fiberglass in their mattresses.
