Jessica Alba’s Honest Company Falsely Labels Products, Class Action Says

Once again, Jessica Alba’s billion dollar empire The Honest Company is facing legal trouble after another customer filed a putative class action lawsuit against the company for allegedly falsely labeling its products.

Plaintiff Staci Seed, an Illinois resident, purchased Honest Laundry Detergent, Honest Dish Soap, and Honest Multi-Surface Cleaner, advertised as natural and free of harmful chemicals such as sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), a known skin irritant.

Seed contends that the products were marketed as being a gentler alternative to harsh chemicals like SLS since they contained sodium coco sulfate (SCS), a “coconut based cleanser.”

“This is misleading in the extreme; SCS is an irritating surfactant just as SLS is, and in fact, SLS is a major component of SCS,” the lawsuit states. “Honest is deceiving customers by representing that they can avoid SLS by using the SCS formulation in the SCS products, and is charging a premium for the ostensibly safer SCS products.”

Seed further alleges she based her purchases of Honest Company products on the representations that the products were free of SLS, when in fact they contained up to 14 percent concentration of the skin irritant.

SLS can cause irritation of the scalp, gums, and skin at just a one percent concentration, and in some people the reaction can be quite strong, even corroding the skin, Seed says.

According to the complaint, the plaintiff’s attorneys had independent lab testing done in February that indicated the products that Seed purchased contained significant amounts of SLS. Additionally, the lawsuit cites an investigative report published by the Wall Street Journal on March 10 that revealed two independent lab tests confirmed the presence of SLS in Honest Laundry Detergent, further corroborating the lab testing conducted by the plaintiff’s counsel.

The Honest Company was established in 2011 by co-founders celebrity actress Jessica Alba and Christopher Gavigan. The company promotes its consumer products, which include diapers, baby wipes, soaps, detergents, lotions, household cleaners, and vitamins as safe, eco-friendly, and non-toxic.

According to a May 2015 Forbes article: “Safety sells. The Honest Company has experienced an absurd level of growth. In 2012, its first year selling products, it hit $10 million in revenue. By [2014] it was $150 million, and industry insiders are predicting over $250 million [in 2015].”

This isn’t the first time The Honest Company has faced allegations of false advertising. The company is facing a comparable suit filed in February in New York federal court accusing Honest Company of deceptively advertising at least 41 of its products–including laundry detergent, children’s toothpaste, and soap–as natural, plant-based, and free of harsh chemicals.

“These products in fact contain a spectacular array of synthetic and toxic ingredients” including toxins phenoxyethanol and methylisothiazolinone, plaintiffs Brad and Manon Buonasera allege in their class action complaint. 

Seed seeks to represent a nationwide Class of consumers who purchased the Honest products in the past four years and brings forth claims of negligent misrepresentation as well as violations of California’s Consumer Legal Remedies Act, False Advertising Law and Unfair Competition Law.

Seed is represented by Daniel L. Warshaw and Alexander R. Safyan of Pearson Simon Warshaw LLP, Douglas A. Millen and Robert J. Wozniak of Freed Kanner London & Millen LLC and Harry Shulman of Shulman Law.

The Honest Company False Advertising Class Action Lawsuit is Staci Seed v. The Honest Co. Inc., Case No. 2:16-cv-01835, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

UPDATE: Plaintiffs continue to urge the judge not to dismiss another Honest Co. mislabeling class action lawsuit.

UPDATE 2: On Aug. 9, 2016, plaintiff Seed’s class action lawsuit was consolidated into a multidistrict litigation against The Honest Company along with five other complaints all alleging similar claims. 

UPDATE 3: On June 5, 2017, Jessica Alba’s Honest Company agreed to pay $1.55 million to settle class action claims that the company misleads consumers into believing its products don’t contain harsh chemicals.

UPDATE 4: On Sept. 18, 2017, The Honest Company sodium lauryl sulfate class action settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim.

UPDATE 5: On Feb. 21, 2018, Top Class Actions viewers who filed a valid claim for the Honest Company dish soap, laundry detergent class action settlement are starting to receive their settlement checks in the mail, for amounts as high as $52.42.