Target sued over fatal water bead death of Wisconsin infant

Nearly three years after their 10-month-old daughter died from ingesting a water bead, a Waukesha County family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit accusing Target of failing to warn customers about the toy’s dangers.

The lawsuit, filed July 6 in Hennepin County, Minnesota, by Taylor and Tyler Bethard of North Prairie, claims the retail company knew its Chuckle & Roar Ultimate Water Beads Activity Kit had caused life-threatening injuries to other children. Target removed the product from store shelves in November 2022 but failed to warn customers who had already purchased it, including the Bethard family, according to the lawsuit.

Had the family been notified, Esther Johanna “Jo” Bethard’s death on July 7, 2023, could have been prevented, according to the lawsuit.

“This is obviously a very significant case given the liability facts, the tremendous pain and suffering that Esther experienced, the devastating impact on the Bethard family, and the punitive damages exposure for Target’s reckless conduct,” Daniel J. Mann, the Bethard family’s attorney who spoke on behalf of the family, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “It is one of the most significant cases that I have ever worked on.”

Target reiterated in a July 10 email to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that it removed the product from the shelves in November 2022 and expressed condolences about the infant’s death.

“We extend our deepest sympathies to those affected by this tragedy,” the company said. “We worked closely with the manufacturer of the product at the time the incident occurred. As this is an active legal matter, we cannot comment further.”

Mann, with the firm Feldman Shepherd, criticized the retailer’s response.

“Target should demonstrate the same zeal for protecting children that it does in sending out marketing emails,” Mann said.

According to the lawsuit:

The Bethards purchased the Chuckle & Roar water beads kit for $15 around April 21, 2022, from a Target store in Decatur, Illinois. The family bought the kit for their older children to use as a sensory toy. The activity kit was used under adult supervision and stored in its original packaging on a high shelf when not in use.

Esther became sick on July 6, 2023, vomiting, refusing to eat and appearing ill. Her parents contacted her pediatrician and monitored her overnight.

Around 7 a.m. the next day, Taylor Bethard was watching the baby monitor when she noticed Esther’s two older siblings in the room. When she realized the infant wasn’t moving, she rushed to the bedroom, found Esther unresponsive in her crib and noticed vomit. She called 911 and began CPR.

Esther was transported to Waukesha Memorial Hospital. Less than an hour after her mother noticed her motionless on the baby monitor, Esther was pronounced dead.

Medical staff determined Esther’s death was consistent with complications from ingesting a single water bead. The bead expanded inside her body, causing a fatal intestinal obstruction, according to the lawsuit.

Esther’s four older siblings either saw her motionless body in her crib or witnessed their mother’s attempts to save her, consequently suffering severe emotional trauma since her death, according to the lawsuit.

The complaint says the retailer first received reports in 2022 involving two children who suffered life-threatening injuries after inhaling or swallowing Chuckle & Roar water beads.

One of those incidents involved a 9-month-old infant in Maine who was seriously injured in November 2022 after swallowing the water beads, causing an intestinal obstruction that required surgery, according to a Sept. 14, 2023, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recall notice.

In November 2022, Target told CBS News it had removed the product from stores and Target.com while it reviewed the situation with the manufacturer, Buffalo Games.

The lawsuit claims Target maintained purchase records through the family’s Target account, meaning the company was able to notify the Bethards and other families when it stopped selling the product in November 2022.

The second incident involved an 18-month-old Las Vegas boy who accidentally inhaled a water bead from a Target-exclusive Chuckle & Roar Ultimate Water Beads Activity Kit in August 2022.

During a May 8, 2024, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission meeting, the child’s mother, Elissa Byer, testified the bead expanded in her son’s airway, collapsing his left lung and requiring emergency surgery. He spent about 18 hours in the emergency room and intensive care unit before recovering.

Following Esther’s death in July 2023, the CPSC recalled approximately 52,000 Chuckle & Roar Ultimate Water Beads Activity Kits on Sept. 14, 2023, citing ingestion, choking and intestinal obstruction hazards after one infant death and one serious injury were reported.

The Bethards previously sued Target and Buffalo Games in New York.

In December 2025, a judge dismissed the claims against Target without prejudice after finding the New York court lacked personal jurisdiction over the Minnesota-based retailer, which is why the July lawsuit is filed where Target is based, in Hennepin County, Minnesota.

Esther’s death prompted federal lawmakers to introduce new legislation aimed at preventing similar tragedies.

In May 2024, U.S. Sens. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Susan Collins of Maine introduced Esther’s Law. The bill that would prohibit the sale of water beads marketed to children as toys, educational materials, sensory tools or art materials.

According to Baldwin’s office, the proposal was inspired by Esther’s death and seeks to prevent other families from experiencing similar losses. The bill was referred to the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee after its introduction in May 2024. The bill never made it out of committee.

Now that the lawsuit has been filed, Mann said the parties will move into the discovery phase, in which they will exchange information through written discovery and depositions.

He said he typically does not make a demand for compensation until discovery is complete and experts have produced reports.

Mann was among the group of attorneys who represented the family of 2-year-old Jozef Dudek, who died in 2017 after an Ikea dresser tipped over and crushed him in California. Ikea agreed to pay the family $46 million to settle the wrongful death lawsuit in 2020.