L’Oreal Customers Seek Revival of Defective Lotion Pump Class Action

Plaintiffs in a L’Oreal class action lawsuit recently asked the Second Circuit to revive their suit, arguing that the district court wrongfully dismissed their claims.

The L’Oreal class action alleges that the brand’s lotion bottles are equipped with defective pumps that leave a significant amount of product in the bottle.

According to the plaintiffs, as much as 57 percent of the lotion is left in bottles due to the pumps’ failure to dispense the product.

The L’Oreal class action lawsuit was dismissed by U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl in July.

Judge Koeltl determined that reasonable consumers do not expect that they will get every drop of product out of a bottle, especially for viscous products like lotion. He also determined that the L’Oreal lotion bottles meet requirements set by the Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act because the bottles state the amount of product contained in each bottles.

In their appeal to the Second Circuit, the plaintiffs argue against Judge Koeltl’s dismissal. Although reasonable consumers don’t expect to get every drop of product in a bottle, the plaintiffs state that failure to get up to 57 percent of the product in a bottle is not reasonable.

“This case is not about residual amounts — plaintiffs’ expert lab testing demonstrated the defective pumps failed to dispense as much as 57% of the product,” the plaintiffs argue. “No reasonable consumer would purchase an item only to use 43% and have to throw the rest away.”

The plaintiffs also argued that Judge Koeltl wrongfully interpreted their suit when he found that their claims were preempted by the Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act. The consumers claim that they take issue with the allegedly defective pumps, not with the way that the products are labeled.

Additionally, the plaintiffs’ appeal notes that the Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act does not regulate containers, so the act should not preempt their claims.

The L’Oreal class action lawsuit was filed by plaintiffs Tullie Critcher, Twoana Clark-Sheppard, Victoria Marynovsky, and Patricia Belbot in June 2018. The women took issue with the pumps used in L’Oreal lotion products, claiming that these pumps leave up to 57 percent of the product in containers.

“To make matters worse, the containers are often glass bottles, sealed shut and are designed to prevent consumers from opening them, thereby thwarting consumers’ access to the trapped product by any reasonable and safe means,” the L’Oreal class action lawsuit argued.

L’Oreal has allegedly acknowledged the defect but failed to take any action to fix the problem. This has reportedly caused consumers financial injury because they are not able to access a significant amount of the product they paid for.

Did you purchase L’Oreal lotion that was sold with a defective pump, leaving product in the bottle? Share your experiences in the comment section below.

Plaintiffs and the proposed Class are represented by Laurence D. King and Matthew B. George of Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP.

The L’Oreal Class Action Lawsuit is Critcher, et al. v. L’Oreal USA Inc., Case No. 19-2474, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

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