Antonia Stamenova-Dancheva

Antonia Stamenova-Dancheva counsels clients on consumer protection and regulatory matters, including compliance with federal and state requirements governing product safety, advertising and promotion, and environmental claims. She represents clients before state and federal agencies, including the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), state Attorneys General, and state regulatory agencies. She also assists clients in advertising disputes before the National Advertising Division (NAD).

Prior to joining Keller and Heckman, Antonia served as product safety and compliance counsel at a major online marketplace, where she supported strategic initiatives while working with business, product assurance, regulatory, and technical teams to proactively manage risk. She also represented the company in negotiations with the CPSC and coordinated responses to outreach from state Attorneys General, federal regulators, and federal legislators. Before that, Antonia spent more than a decade in the Los Angeles and Washington, DC offices of a large New York-based law firm where she represented companies in consumer class actions and settlement negotiations.

Antonia leverages her combined litigation, in-house counsel, and current regulatory experience to provide holistic advice to meet her clients’ complex needs and, if necessary, guide them through civil investigations, enforcement matters, and litigation. She counsels clients on product safety and compliance issues across a wide range of consumer products, including toys, infant and children’s products, apparel and textiles, personal care, home goods, furniture and furnishings, luggage, electronics, and tech accessories. Antonia assists clients in evaluating legal requirements; assessing potential product hazards; preparing reports to regulators; negotiating and managing recalls; and developing compliance programs to meet legal obligations, enhance product quality and safety, and manage legal exposure. Antonia also advises clients on marketing and advertising dos and don’ts, testing, labeling and warnings, and claim substantiation and qualifications. 

Antonia is a frequent contributor to Keller and Heckman’s Consumer Protection Connection blog and other publications, and a sought-after speaker. Antonia’s recent article, Passing the Buck on Recycling: Textiles as a Case Study of State EPR Laws, co-authored with Keller and Heckman Partner Sheila Millar, was published by the Washington Legal Foundation. 

Representative Matters

• Negotiated several CPSC recalls involving a tech accessory sold directly and through major online marketplaces for an Asian-based client without a civil penalty investigation, and helped the client demonstrate to the agency that no recall is warranted for a different model accessory in the same product category
• Assisted a retailer who had conducted a recall of a food preparation utensil in the EU with submitting reports to Health Canada and the CPSC for the same product, obtaining a closing letter from the CPSC without a recall in the U.S.
• Represented a brand of children’s beverage products in a CPSC investigation following the report of a death of a child while allegedly using the product, obtaining a closing letter without a recall upon demonstrating to the agency that the product did not contain a defect that could create a substantial product hazard, and the report was false
• Evaluated third-party test reports, internal analyses and procedures, and assisted a manufacturer of a consumer product in strengthening an internal investigative report concerning a potential manufacturing contamination issue 
• Advised a home goods manufacturer/retailer on state law requirements for compostable, recyclable, and recycled content claims, as well as on state and federal requirements and guidance for general environmental benefit claims
• Assisted a furniture manufacturer with creating a limited lifetime warranty program and an optional post-warranty service plan, as well as with Proposition 65 evaluations
• Assisted a trade association with identifying false and misleading claims by competing companies, and identifying an opportunity to challenge a years-long campaign of disparagement of industry backed by bad science
• Assisted a packaging manufacturer with legislative outreach seeking to withdraw a regulatory determination and postpone a statutory implementation deadline
• Created client training sessions and firm-hosted webinars on sustainability initiatives, advertising principles and claim substantiation, litigation and regulatory trends for consumer marketing, and advertising best practices
• Advised clients on online marketplace policies and procedures for challenging false and misleading information in competing product listings, and helped clients take down offending product listings
• Analyzed legal challenges of state extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws and California’s SB 343, and advised clients on practical implications of judicial rulings
• Counseled clients about mandatory Country of Origin requirements and voluntary “Made in USA” claims

Memberships

• Steering Committee, the Consumer Goods Litigation Forum – Defense Bar
• International Consumer Product Health and Safety Organization (ICPHSO)

Awards

• The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Equal Justice Advocacy Award in 2014 and 2011 (for pro bono representation of a class of mentally ill individuals in immigration proceedings)