On March 28, the Liberty Justice Center filed a lawsuit on behalf of Nested Bean, Inc. against the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) for its reckless disregard of due process and the rule of law, which has resulted in severe harm to a small business, Nested Bean. This lawsuit highlights the unchecked regulatory overreach of the CPSC, initiated by Commissioner Trumka’s targeted attack on a product with no legal or scientific basis. The decision to file this lawsuit is also in line with a directive from an executive order aimed at ensuring fair and transparent regulatory processes, protecting businesses from unjust government actions.
In the fall of 2023, Commissioner Trumka tried to get the Commission to begin the process of creating mandatory standards for weighted infant sleep products, but the Commission denied his request because it lacked the scientific data. Despite the lack of scientific data and authority, in early 2024 Commissioner Trumka issued a series of letters instructing major retailers to immediately halt the sale of weighted infant sleep swaddles and blankets due to alleged safety concerns, and included a link to a news article that specifically named Nested Bean and another manufacturer. He reinforced this message with public statements released on the CPSC’s website and his official social media accounts. Immediately after he issued these letters, multiple major retailers severed their connections with the two companies named in the article—but continued to sell other weighted infant sleep products that had not been singled out in the article.
In May and again in August, Nested Bean wrote to Commissioner Trumka demanding that he retract his inaccurate and misleading statements about the company and its products. Trumka refused, alleging that they were personal statements—even though they were issued on official CPSC letterhead, published on the agency’s website, and posted on his official social media accounts.
On November 11, 2024, the Liberty Justice Center issued a demand letter to the CPSC to hold Trumka accountable for abusing his position of power and bypassing mandatory CPSC protocol to advance his personal agenda. The Liberty Justice Center requested the CPSC issue a public statement clarifying that: (1) Trumka’s remarks about “risk of death” and “multiple infant deaths” were not linked to Nested Bean’s products, (2) the CPSC has not adopted any voluntary or mandatory standards for weighted infant sleep products, nor is there an administrative rule even defining the category of weighted infant sleep products, and (3) most importantly, the CPSC has not issued a recall, stop sale, or ban of weighted infant sleep products. The CPSC responded by failing to retract the statements, offering only individual commissioners’ proposals that were never voted on.
On February 13, 2025 the Liberty Justice Center sent another demand letter urging the CPSC to vote on one of those proposals, which would require the CPSC to send a follow-up letter to retailers clarifying that they are not obligated to remove weighted infant sleep products from their shelves because Trumka’s statements against weighted infant sleep products do not constitute an official action by the whole Commission, nor does it constitute a recall, ban, or stop sale order.
The Liberty Justice Center also sent a demand letter to HHS asking the agency to rescind the Safe Sleep Guidelines made by the prior administration, which advised against the use of weighted infant sleep products, due to a lack of statutory authority or scientific support for those statements.
The Liberty Justice Center’s recent demand letters provided an opportunity for CPSC and HHS to address the previous administration’s abuses of power. Since the agencies failed to act within a reasonable time, we are now taking legal action to secure relief for Nested Bean and to rescind the Safe Sleep Guidelines that unjustly discourage the use of weighted infant sleep products.
A copy of the Liberty Justice Center’s November demand letter is available here. Copies of the February demand letters to the CPSC and HHS are available here and here.
Nested Bean, Inc. v. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware on March 28, 2025.
Loren A. Seehase is a Senior Counsel at Liberty Justice Center where she litigates cases to protect the rights to free speech, economic liberty, private property, and other Constitutional rights in both federal and state courts across the country.