Sleep Number Lawsuit: Death, Pricing, Mold, and Arbitration

Sleep Number lawsuits over the past two decades include a 2024 wrongful death suit tied to a fatal bed-entrapment incident, a pending California class action alleging fake strike-through discounts, a securities case that was dismissed in 2023, an older mold-related class action, and a New York wage-timing class action. The picture changed in June 2026, when Sleep Number filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the Southern District of New York and entered a $415 million sale agreement with Sleep Country Canada.¹

The Wrongful Death Case Over a Bed Entrapment

On December 10, 2024, Angela Moan sued Sleep Number Corporation and Leggett & Platt, Inc. in St. Louis County, Missouri, over the death of her mother, 80-year-old Rosalind Walker. Leggett & Platt manufactured the adjustable foundation.²

Walker had bought the bed at a store in Brentwood, Missouri, in October 2014. On March 1, 2023, she was standing between the raised bed and her bedroom wall when, according to the complaint, the adjustable foundation lowered on its own and pinned her against the wall. The suit alleges the bed contained a timer that caused it to decline without user input, and that it lowered with enough force to trap her.³ First responders freed her on March 3, 2023, two days later.⁴

She was hospitalized, moved to a rehabilitation facility, and later placed on hospice care. She died on April 3, 2023. The complaint says she “suffered the entire time” between the incident and her death.⁵

The suit brings claims of negligence, strict liability, wrongful death, and breach of warranty. The core product liability theory is that the bed was defective and unreasonably dangerous because it had no audible warning when lowering, no sensor to detect obstructions, and no emergency release mechanism, and because the companies failed to warn about the risk of entrapment between the bed and a wall.⁶ Moan seeks damages exceeding $25,000 for her mother’s predeath suffering, medical expenses, and loss of companionship.²

Both companies said their legal teams were reviewing the allegations and offered condolences to Walker’s family. Sleep Number said it stood by the safety of its products.² The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has not issued any recalls for Sleep Number beds related to entrapment.⁷

The Deceptive Pricing Class Action

In September 2024, California shopper June Evans filed a proposed class action in the Eastern District of California, alleging Sleep Number ran perpetual fake sales. The case is Evans v. Sleep Number Corporation, No. 1:24-cv-01136-SAB.⁸

The complaint claims Sleep Number displayed inflated “original” prices with a strike-through next to lower “sale” prices, creating the impression of a real discount, when the mattresses had not actually sold at the higher price for at least 90 days before the advertised sale. Evans bought a C2 360 Smart Bed mattress in February 2023 for $719.20, marked down from a listed $899.⁸ The complaint cites FTC guidance that a former price should not be advertised unless the product was genuinely offered at that price for a reasonably substantial period.⁹

Evans brings claims under the California Consumers Legal Remedies Act, the False Advertising Law, the Unfair Competition Law, and common-law fraud and unjust enrichment theories. She seeks to represent all consumers who bought Sleep Number mattresses within the applicable limitations period, and asks for declaratory and injunctive relief along with monetary, treble, and punitive damages.¹⁰ After Evans’s counsel sent a demand letter, some listings on Sleep Number’s website were updated to show full retail prices. The case remains pending.⁸

The Securities Case Was Dismissed

Investors filed a securities class action in late 2021 covering a class period from February 18, 2021, through July 20, 2021. They alleged Sleep Number had publicly touted supply-chain flexibility and redundancy while concealing that Winter Storm Uri in February 2021 caused a severe foam shortage, which delayed shipments and pushed millions of dollars in sales into later quarters.¹¹

On July 10, 2023, Judge Patrick J. Schiltz granted Sleep Number’s motion to dismiss the amended complaint. The case was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled, and no settlement was reached.¹²

The Older Mold Class Action

In 2008, plaintiffs filed a class action in the Northern District of California alleging the beds, then sold under the Select Comfort brand, were prone to mold growth. The complaint alleged the company had been receiving mold complaints since at least 1996 without issuing a recall, and cited a 2004 statement by then-CEO Bill McLaughlin in Furniture Today saying the company had been “intentionally selective, rather than broad” in its communications to keep the issue out of headlines.¹³

In September 2008, the court granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss and struck the class allegations, giving plaintiffs 30 days to file an amended complaint with a more narrowly defined class.¹⁴ The company has said mold is not a product defect but a possibility with any upholstered product, introduced an antimicrobial reformulation in 2005, and has said there are no confirmed mold cases in beds produced after that change.¹³

New York Employee Pay-Frequency Class Action

In March 2023, a class action against Select Comfort was filed in the Northern District of New York alleging violations of New York labor law. The complaint claimed Sleep Number employees in Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo who spent more than 25 percent of their working hours on manual labor were paid biweekly rather than weekly, the schedule required for manual workers under state law. The theory relied on a 2019 New York appellate ruling that set the 25 percent threshold for identifying workers entitled to weekly pay.¹⁵

How the Bankruptcy Affects Claims

Sleep Number filed for Chapter 11 on June 12, 2026, in the Southern District of New York, carrying about $672 million in debt and reporting a first-quarter 2026 net loss of $50 million on net sales of $319 million.¹⁶ Court filings pointed to unpredictable U.S. tariffs and inflation.¹⁷

At the same time, the company announced a $415 million asset purchase agreement with Sleep Country Canada as the stalking-horse bidder in a court-supervised sale under Section 363 of the Bankruptcy Code.¹⁸ Sleep Number said it would continue day-to-day operations, fulfilling orders and servicing warranties, during the case. CEO Linda Findley said the company remained “dedicated to advancing our new product line and continuing to serve current and future customers.”¹⁹

For anyone with a claim against Sleep Number, Chapter 11 typically freezes pending civil litigation through the automatic stay and channels claims through the bankruptcy process. Court filings noted that equity interests are typically wiped out in Chapter 11 proceedings.¹⁷

Arbitration Limits Most Consumer Court Cases

Anyone thinking about suing Sleep Number over a mattress purchase should know the company’s terms of service include a mandatory arbitration clause. Most disputes must be resolved through binding individual arbitration, and a class action waiver blocks arbitrators from awarding relief to anyone besides the individual claimant.²⁰

Before arbitration, consumers must first try to resolve the issue through a 30-day informal negotiation period. Proceedings are administered by National Arbitration and Mediation under the Federal Arbitration Act, and the default location for in-person hearings is Minneapolis unless the arbitrator finds that would create a hardship. Consumers have a 30-day window after first accepting the terms to opt out by sending written notice to Sleep Number’s legal department. Small claims court actions and government enforcement actions are exempt from the arbitration requirement.²⁰

1
Furniture Today. Sleep Number Files Chapter 11, Enters Agreement to Sell Company to Sleep Country Canada
2
KSTP. Woman Sues Sleep Number After Mother Is Trapped Between Mattress and Wall for 2 Days, Dies
3
People. Elderly Woman Dies From Injuries After Being Trapped by Sleep Number Bed for Two Days
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29 News. Mom Killed by Sleep Number Bed, Lawsuit Says
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NBC News. Woman Died 1 Month After Sleep Number Bed Trapped Her Against Wall for 2 Days, Lawsuit Says
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Local 12. Lawsuit Claims Sleep Number Bed Trapped Woman, Leading to Her Death
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U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. CPSC, Select Comfort Announce Recall of Adjustable Beds
8
ClassAction.org. Evans v. Sleep Number Corporation
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ClassAction.org. Sleep Number Lawsuit Alleges Perpetual Sales Are Misleading to Consumers
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Top Class Actions. Sleep Number Class Action Claims Co. Uses False Reference Prices for Sales
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Newsfile Corp. Rosen Encourages Sleep Number Corporation Investors to Secure Counsel Before Important Deadline in Securities Class Action
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Stanford Law School Securities Class Action Clearinghouse. Sleep Number Corporation Securities Litigation
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Emporia Gazette. Sleep Number Bed Mold Problem Class Action
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CaseMine. Stearns v. Select Comfort Retail Corporation, Case No. 08-2746 JF
15
ClassLawDC. NY Sleep Number Workers Owed Wages Class Action Complaint Alleges
16
CNBC. Mattress Company Sleep Number Bankruptcy Sale
17
Reuters. Mattress Company Sleep Number Plans $415 Million Bankruptcy Sale
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Sleep Number Corporation. Sleep Number Enters Asset Purchase Agreement to Combine With Sleep Country Canada
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Forbes. Sleep Number Bankruptcy
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Sleep Number. Legal – Arbitration