Mattel sued over toy recall

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Attorney Jeffrey Killino, whose lawsuit helped lead to a recall of defective Chinese-made tires, filed a class action lawsuit against Mattel Inc. on Monday due to its recent recalls of toys that might have contained excessive amounts of lead paint.

Killino said in a statement that the suit is aimed at forcing the world's largest toy maker to pay for the testing of children who might have gotten lead poisoning from the toys, which were made in China.

Representatives from Mattel were not immediately available to comment.

Last week Mattel recalled millions of toys, including 436,000 die-cast toy cars from its "Cars" line because they may have contained excessive amounts of lead, which can cause brain damage in children.

Following the latest recall, Mattel CEO Robert Eckert said the company's more aggressive testing methods to uncover tainted toys may lead to more recalls.

The recall affected toys manufactured in China between May and July 2007, and it came just two weeks after Mattel recalled 1.5 million Chinese-made toys because of lead paint.

(Reporting by Justin Grant)