Summary: Two advocacy groups, the New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA) and the Liberty Justice Center, have taken legal action against the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and commissioner Richard Trumka Jr, alleging overreach and unsubstantiated claims about the safety of weighted infant sleep products. The NCLA filed a lawsuit on behalf of Dreamland Baby Co, accusing Trumka of exceeding his authority by pressuring retailers to halt sales of their products without sufficient evidence or adherence to regulatory processes. Similarly, the Liberty Justice Center issued a demand letter on behalf of Nested Bean, seeking retractions and corrections of misleading statements that it claims have unfairly harmed the company’s reputation and business.
Key Takeaways:
- Legal Challenges Against CPSC and Trumka: The NCLA’s lawsuit and Liberty Justice Center’s demand letter allege that Trumka acted beyond his authority by making public statements and pressuring retailers based on unproven safety claims about weighted infant sleep products.
- Calls for Retractions and Clarifications: Both advocacy groups are seeking formal retractions and corrections, with the Liberty Justice Center requesting the CPSC clarify that there are no reported injuries, recalls, or standards related to the targeted products.
- Impact on Small Businesses: The advocacy groups argue that Trumka’s actions have caused significant reputational and financial harm to companies like Dreamland Baby Co. and Nested Bean, with retailers severing ties due to the unsupported safety claims.
The New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA) has filed a lawsuit against multiple federal agencies, alleging unlawful actions and unproven claims about the safety of weighted infant sleep products, including its client Dreamland Baby Co’s products.
The complaint was filed against the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr, and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Similarly, the Liberty Justice Center issued a demand letter on behalf of its client Nested Bean, a maker of weight infant sleep products, calling on CPSC to retract and correct statements issued by CPSC and Trumka that reflect adversely on the safety of Nested Bean’s products, which the center says have unfairly damaged the company’s reputation and business.
Kara Rollins, litigation counsel at NCLA, says in a release, “CPSC abdicated its power and authority to make consumer product safety determinations to other government agencies that Congress never gave that power to and have no experience in making such decisions. Compounding these gross failures, commissioner Trumka took it upon himself to elevate these legally and factually defective determinations to pressure retailers to stop selling otherwise lawful products.”
Allegations of Regulatory Overreach and Bias
According to the NCLA, commissioner Trumka proposed last fall to “pursue a mandatory standard to address foreseeable risks posed by” weighted infant sleep products but that the CPSC rejected that proposal by a 3-1 vote in November 2024, with chairman Alexander Hoehn-Saric saying the agency “had not conducted enough research to pursue rulemaking on the issue in 2024.”
The NCLA alleges that Trumka, “despite losing the vote” has sent letters to retailers disparaging Dreamland’s products and issued a public statement saying retailers should consider stopping sales. It further alleges that he posted “additional inaccurate or misleading messages” on CPSC’s website and his official social media accounts and suggested “without evidence” that the products pose a risk of death or sudden infant death syndrome.
The NCLA claims these actions disregarded the CPSA’s required rulemaking processes and “showed impermissible bias” against Dreamland.
The Liberty Justice Center’s demand letter also takes issue with Trumka and CPSP making negative public statements about the class of weighted sleep products, calling them “baseless.”
The Liberty Justice Center requests that the CPSC issue a statement within 30 days clarifying that Trumka’s remarks about a “risk of death” and “multiple infant deaths” are not linked to Nested Bean’s products. The center also seeks that the CPSC clarify that there have been no reported injuries, recalls, stop-sale orders, or identified hazard patterns associated with Nestled Bean’s products and that the CPSC has not established any voluntary or mandatory standards for weighted infant sleep products.
ID 335719626 © Serik Baybulsinov | Dreamstime.com
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