Denver-based Zen Magnets has filed a civil lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Denver against the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in hopes of halting an action that effectively shuts the company down.

Denver attorney David Japha filed the lawsuit Monday seeking to stay the federal agency’s final decision ordering Zen Magnets to stop selling sets of small spherical magnets because they are hazardous to children.

Zen is seeking an injunction setting aside the commission’s decision on the basis that it violates the company’s Fifth Amendment due process rights.

Zen has been in and out of court fighting since the commission initiated an administrative adjudication in 2012.

In its final decision, the commission ruled that Zen’s warnings are defective and the magnets are hazardous. Children between the ages of 9 and 16 have been known to stick the magnets on their braces to mimic facial piercings and putting them near their mouths while playing with them and accidentally swallowing them, the final decision says.

Swallowing the magnetic spheres can cause catastrophic digestive tissue injuries. Babies and toddlers may find and swallow lost or unaccounted-for magnets, which are shiny, reflective and smooth and look like candies on cakes and cookies, the commission says.

But commission members relied on exaggerated claims about the dangers of Zen Magnets, including that the high-powered magnets are responsible for horrific, long-term and life-threatening injuries to thousands of infants and children.

The commission later conceded that it did not know how many ingestion incidents there had been related to Zen’s magnets, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit says the commission not only found against Zen initially but also acted as an appellate board.

“The statements made by the commissioners smack of unfairness in light of the fact they are the ones who decided plaintiff’s case on appeal,” the lawsuit says.

The statements by commissioners suggest they are biased against Zen Magnets, it says.The lawsuit mentions statements by Chairman Elliott Kay about the possibility that something tragic could happen to his own children.

“Every night, every night, long after we have put them to bed, I sneak back into their rooms to kiss them one more time. As I do that, I feel tremendous gratitude they are alive and well, and that I am so blessed to have the privilege of hearing in the dark of their rooms the soothing and rhythmic sound of their breathing. … And I also know each night that there is certainly no guarantee I will have even one more night to hold onto them tight.”

The statements are emotional comments by people who have prejudged Zen Magnets’ products, and are not the statements of impartial, disinterested adjudicators, the lawsuit says. The commissioners had “irrevocable closed” minds prior to a hearing about the magnets.

The commission’s conclusions were arbitrary and an abuse of discretion, the lawsuit says.