The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ordered the unsealing of a consumer safety case that a manufacturer claimed would damage its reputation and “fiscal health.” The court held that the public’s right to know outweighed the company’s concerns. (Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, April 17, 2014, by Jamie Schuman)
In 2012 a federal district judge ordered the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) not to publish a product safety complaint against the manufacturer that was “materially inaccurate.” The commission purged the report of errors the company cited, but the district judge said it still posed harm to the company. (The Wall Street Journal, April 16, 2014, by Jacob Gershman)
Celia Wexler of the Union of Concerned Scientists, April 21, 2014, said the court decision was a significant victory for “scientific integrity, transparency, and consumer protection.” Wexler pointed out that the report linked an infant’s death to the manufacturer’s product and that the public had a compelling interest in product review and postings on the new product safety commission database, “…the database is providing information to the public. During its first quarter of operation, it got 305,000 visits and visitors conducted 1.8 million product searches. It was helping the CPSC identify emerging hazards. It was offering companies the opportunity to respond to and correct complaints. In short, it was working.”