A U.S. district judge has affirmed that companies must report immediately to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) certain information that their products could cause injury or death. The ruling was made in a civil penalty action by the U.S. government against Mirama Enterprises Inc., which does business as Aroma Housewares Co., in San Diego, Calif., an importer of juice extractors (or juicers).

Aroma received telephone calls and letters beginning early in 1998 that the juicers were breaking apart and injuring consumers. By the time Aroma reported to CPSC in November 1998, it had at least 23 reports of incidents of juicers breaking apart, including reports of injuries to at least 22 consumers. Five of these injuries required stitches and one required surgery.

Judge Judith N. Keep in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California held the company liable before trial, based on the existing evidence and legal arguments. The judge noted that "companies are specifically advised to over-report rather than under- report." She added that the thrust of the Consumer Product Safety Act "is to impose on companies in the consumer product business a duty to report fully and immediately so that the Commission might protect the public safety."

The court found that the incidents reported to Aroma were "enough for a reasonable person to be able to conclude that the juicer posed an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death. ... The standard is a 'reasonable person' standard, not a 'reasonable expert' standard."

"The court's ruling strongly supports what the CPSC has been telling companies for years," said CPSC Acting Chairman Thomas Moore. "The sooner we learn of a problem, the sooner we can inform consumers and protect them from further injury and death."

The court will now consider the amount of penalty that Aroma must pay for failing to report the unsafe juicers. The Department of Justice's Office of Consumer Litigation is representing CPSC in the case.