In 2011, entrepreneur Manasi Gangan founded Nested Bean to help babies sleep better. Her company sells weighted infant sleep products. Manasi engineered their swaddles and sleep sacks to imitate the weight of a parent’s hand, providing the comfort that babies like her own need to sleep soundly.
After over a decade of successful operation, however, an act of government overreach decimated Manasi’s company overnight.
In early 2024, a commissioner at the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued a letter instructing retailers to stop selling weighted infant sleep products. Retailers cut ties with Nested Bean immediately, destroying Manasi’s business and forcing her to lay off more than 90% of her employees.
The letter was a de facto ban on Manasi’s products, but the CPSC failed to follow legal requirements for enacting a product ban. The agency found no safety risk to justify a ban, ignored its own rulemaking protocols, and failed to provide a notice and comment period for Manasi to appeal the new standard.
When government agencies create binding rules and policies, they must adhere to the rule of law, not act unilaterally.
Represented free of charge by Pacific Legal Foundation and the Liberty Justice Center, Manasi filed a lawsuit to defend her company against government overreach.
What’s At Stake?
- When government agencies create binding rules and policies, they must adhere to the rule of law, not act unilaterally.
