Bindle class action claims bottles have ‘exceedingly high’ lead levels

Bindle bottles class action overview: 

• Who: A water bottle customer sued the maker of the Bindle Bottles water bottle.
• Why: The plaintiff says the product contains overly high lead levels.
• Where: The Bindle bottles class action was filed in a California federal court.

Bindle bottles allegedly contain “extremely high levels of lead;” however, the company led a “disastrous” recall effort for the product, leaving consumers at risk, a new class action lawsuit alleges.

Plaintiff Jennifer Mikalacki filed the class action complaint against Bindle Bottle LLC on Feb. 27 in a California federal court, alleging violations of state and federal consumer laws. 

According to the lawsuit, all Bindle bottles suffer from an identical defect: they allegedly contain extremely high levels of lead, a dangerous neurotoxin.

Despite these risks, Bindle conducted a “disastrous recall” for consumers that left them “uniformed and confused,” Mikalacki alleges.

“Defendant began its recall offering one remedy — a refund — only to replace that remedy with another, an ineffective repair that few consumers have taken advantage of given their loss of trust in Bindle and continued concerns that Defendant has underreported the gravity of the problem,” the Bindle class action claims.

Bottles recalled after consumer testing, Bindle class action states

Consumer Reports released a report in February revealing it tested three of the bottles with a particular focus on their “sealing dot” on the bottom of the bottle. The testing allegedly showed the lead content of the dot ranged from 90,800 parts per million to 155,000 parts per million, according to the Bindle bottle lawsuit..

Consumer Reports allegedly says the bottles had “exposed lead levels” about 1,100 times the levels legally allowed in a lot of consumer products, the lawsuit states. 

The company first announced it offered a full refund but then removed the statement from its website, the lawsuit states. Now the company only offers an at-home repair kit, Mikalacki says.

She seeks to represent a class of people in the United States who bought the Bindle bottles and a California subclass.

She sued for violations of California’s Unfair Competition Law, False Advertising Law and Consumers Legal Remedies Act, as well as claims for breach of implied warranty under the Song-Beverly Act, fraud and unjust enrichment. She seeks damages, fees, costs and a jury trial.

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration in January released its draft guidance for manufacturers to reduce lead exposure in baby food after a 2021 federal report found a number of baby food makers allowed high levels of heavy metals in their products.

Do you own a Bindle bottle? Let us know in the comments.

Mikalacki is represented by Yeremey Krivoshey and Sean L. Litteral of Bursor & Fisher PA.

The Bindle bottle class action lawsuit is Mikalacki, et al. v. Bindle Bottle LLC, Case No. 4:23-cv-00881, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. 

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