Earlier this year, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) launched an important online database for consumers to find out more and report on products that pose a safety issue. More than 3,300 reports of unsafe products have already been noted on the site, and the site provides an easy to search database for every product imaginable. Recent recalls have included unsafe kitchen appliances, dangerous toys and clothing, hazardous electronic equipment, and more.
The website has already received 305,000 plus visits, so the word is getting out about the site as a resource for recalls and a way for consumers to alert authorities about products that could injury or kill someone. One manufacturer is currently going to great lengths to keep its potentially dangerous product out of the database.
In that case, the manufacturer wants to prevent the CPSC from posting the harm its product has caused. It wants to seal this case that the CPSC is reviewing. The consumer advocacy group Public Citizen objects to this motion to seal as it violates the public’s right to learn about potentially dangerous products.
“A challenge to an important product safety law should not proceed in secret just because the company wants to avoid bad publicity about one of its products,” said Public Citizen’s attorney Scott Michelman. “The public has a strong interest in the outcome of this lawsuit and a correspondingly strong right to learn who is involved, what arguments the company makes and the basis for the court’s decision.”
Depending on how the court decides, it could set a precedent about keeping product reports from the public spotlight. If ruled in the manufacturer’s favor, which many do not want to occur, it could compromise the CPSC database. The database was originally called for in the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 after massive recalls of children’s products.
The CPSC does alert companies when a complaint is made to it. Companies have an opportunity to show the complaint is inaccurate to have it removed from the database. Otherwise, the CPSC is required by law to post a complaint within 20 business days of its receipt.
“This database is a critical tool for consumers to read and report safety complaints about the products we buy,” said Consumers Union senior policy counsel Ami Gadhia. “We’re opposed to any effort that could jeopardize this database and lead to unsafe products being kept secret from the public.”
A manufacturer can be held liable for a serious injury or wrongful death it causes with a defective product.
John Hale is a Waxahachie personal injury attorney and Ellis County personal injury lawyer helping injury victims near Dallas, Texas. Learn more at http://www.hale911.com/.
