Company Doe has been unmasked—at last. Ergobaby, a Los Angeles-based maker of baby carriers, today revealed that it is Company Doe. The company had sued the Consumer Product Safety Commission to prevent public posting of a report filed by public-safety officials in Maryland suggesting that one of the company’s baby carriers was linked to the death of an infant in 2011.
Even after a Maryland district court ruled that Ergobaby’s product had not caused the child’s death and the report should not be filed on SaferProducts.gov, the CPSC’s product-safety complaint database, Ergobaby pushed on with secret litigation for more than two and a half years to keep all court records about the case, including the company’s name, sealed.
But Consumers Union, the policy and advocacy arm of Consumer Reports, Public Citizen, and the Consumer Federation of America intervened, filing a motion to unseal all court documents in this case, charging that it violated the public’s right of access to court proceedings under the First Amendment. A federal appeals court last month agreed, unanimously ruling that the district court was wrong to conduct months of secret litigation and ordering all court records in the case to be unsealed.
Although those court records had not yet been unsealed, Ergobaby issued its statement today, revealing that it is Company Doe. Ergobaby also provided its own account about the incident that prompted the legal battle. According to the company’s statement, in 2011 an emergency medical team was called to help a baby in an Ergobaby carrier whose airway was blocked by a foreign object.
“The experts and the court determined that the baby choked on a foreign object and it was a sad and unfortunate coincidence that this tragic event occurred in an Ergobaby carrier,” the company’s statement read, adding that “no Ergobaby carrier has ever caused a fatality.”
Ergobaby also said that while it disagreed with the appeals court decision to unseal the case, it decided not to appeal. Founded in 2003, Ergobaby also owns Orbit Baby Inc., a maker of bassinets, car seats, strollers, and other baby products.
“This case could have set a very troubling precedent,” Ami Gadhia, senior policy counsel for Consumers Union, said. “If a company sues to keep its name out of the complaint database, it shouldn’t be able to use the courts to hide its identity from the public. The court has helped preserve the integrity of the database, and it recognized the importance of transparency in court proceedings, which we think is critical.”
—Andrea Rock
More details about Company Doe v. Public Citizen:
'Company Doe' might finally be unmasked, and that's a win for consumers
Consumer groups aim to unmask Company Doe by unsealing secret court record
Arguments made in 'Company Doe' case in federal appeals court
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