Oklahoma family business sues CPSC to stop abusive recall proceedings

Muskogee, OK; August 17, 2022: Yesterday, Leachco, Inc. – a family-owned manufacturer of safe, innovative, and quality products that support families and infants – filed suit against the Consumer Product Safety Commission challenging the commission’s attempt to force the company’s infant lounger off the market through an administrative proceeding.

“The CPSC’s action is all too typical of executive-branch agencies that bring enforcement actions in-house, where the agencies act as prosecutor, judge, and jury,” said Oliver Dunford, an attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation. “Our lawsuit seeks to vindicate Leachco’s right to a fair hearing before an independent judge. We believe that Leachco’s product is perfectly safe when used properly. If the commission disagrees, it should have to prove its case in a court of law.”

Leachco’s Podster® is an infant lounger created to give parents a safe place for their babies while parents need to have their hands free. As every responsible parent knows, and the packaging clearly warns, it should be used only with awake and supervised babies. Yet, the CPSC claims the Podster is defective because some parents and caregivers might ignore the warnings.

“We are confident that the Podster® is safe for its intended use—which is adult-supervised, awake-time use,” said Jamie Leach, vice president and founder of Leachco. “The Podster® has been used safely by thousands of parents and caregivers—including our family—for more than 12 years.”

CPSC also claims that it has the right to adjudicate its own accusations in an in-house administrative proceeding, with no jury, that can be appealed only to the commission itself — a clear violation of due process.

The case is Leachco, Inc. v. Consumer Product Safety Commission, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma.