Consumer Product Matters posts 141 to 150 of 234, from July 18, 2014 back to June 13, 2014.
Last week, the California Supreme Court granted review of Ramos v. Brenntag Specialties, Inc. to resolve a split in the Second Appellate District regarding the application of California’s component parts doctrine. The component parts doctrine stands for the proposition that a company that manufactures component parts cannot be…
The House of Representatives is currently considering H.R. 5016, the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act of 2015, which provides funding to many different parts of the federal government for the next fiscal year. This includes the CPSC, which would be funded $118 million under the House…
Today the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee approved three pending nominations for the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The Committee approved Elliot Kaye as Chairman and Joe Mohorovic and Bob Adler as Commissioners to the CPSC. Although the Committee approved his nomination, seven Republican Senators reportedly voted…
Last week, a California federal judge revived a putative class action accusing Amy’s Kitchen Inc. of misleading customers by labeling sugar as “evaporated cane juice” on its products. In a finding that puts the case on hold until the FDA weighs in, Judge Illston found that a decision…
Last week the CPSC formally announced it would be holding its annual “agenda and priorities” hearing at the CPSC on July 24th at 10am. The purpose and importance of this meeting is somewhat underappreciated in terms of the role it can play for individual stakeholders wishing to have…
On June 27, 2014, Judge Claude M. Hilton of the Eastern District of Virginia dismissed the complaint filed against the power tool industry by SawStop, LLC. We previously wrote about this lawsuit and the need for companies and trade associations to develop sound legal policies and procedures to…
We previously wrote about the recent 4th Circuit decision that ordered the unsealing of a district court opinion siding with a manufacturer who challenged a product safety report the CPSC planned to post on its Saferproducts.gov public database. The district court had previously redacted its opinion heavily and…
In April, we wrote about the Vermont legislature’s approval of a bill that would require manufacturers to change the retail labels of certain foods to indicate that they are GMO. On May 8, 2014, Vermont enacted the final version of this bill, now Act 120, which requires manufacturers…
In most respects, trade associations are pro-competitive organizations: they join together competitors to advance worthwhile goals and to learn from one another. Their societal value is why they are recognized as non-profits. Many trade association activities, in particular safety standard-setting efforts, provide the public with valuable benefits. But…
On June 10, 2014 the federal government proposed to expand the coverage of the rule designed to weed out counterfeit electronic parts in products sold to the Government. The new rule, if adopted in the form proposed, would expand coverage of the anti-counterfeit parts rule in three significant…