Honest Company Class Action Lawsuits Consolidated into MDL

A federal judicial panel has created a new multidistrict litigation for lawsuits alleging that Jessica Alba’s The Honest Company misrepresented the ingredients in several of its baby, cosmetic, and household products.

The seven-member panel ordered that at least six class action lawsuits against The Honest Company will be transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, stating that “centralization will serve the convenience of the parties and witnesses and promote the just and efficient conduct of this litigation.”

“The actions share factual issues arising from allegations that Honest labeled and marketed certain of its household cleaning products — namely, its laundry detergent, dish soap and multi-surface cleaner — in a false and misleading manner,” Sarah Vance, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana and chair of the MDL panel wrote in the Aug. 5 order.

“Specifically, plaintiffs contend that Honest advertises the products as free of sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), even though the products’ ingredients include sodium coco sulfate (SCS). According to plaintiffs, SCS necessarily contains SLS.”

In consolidating the cases under U.S. District Judge André Birotte, who is already presiding over four of the pending actions and two tag-along actions, the panel hopes to eliminate duplicative discovery into any differences between SLS and SCS, the company’s development, sourcing, testing, labeling, and marketing of the products, and independent testing of the products reported by the Wall Street Journal.

“Duplicative discovery will likewise be avoided on the issues of consumers’ perception of the products and whether consumers paid a price premium for the products,” Vance wrote in the two-page order. “Further, centralization will prevent inconsistent pretrial rulings on class certification and other pretrial matters, and conserve the resources of the parties, their counsel, and the judiciary.”

According to the transfer order, five of the pending actions supported the centralization with the exception of the plaintiff in the Eastern District of Missouri.

The panel further explained that transferring the cases to California makes sense since The Honest Company is headquartered in Los Angeles, and many witnesses and relevant documents are likely to be found there. Additionally, the panel noted that along with the four class action lawsuits, two tag-along cases are also pending in the district.

The Honest Company was founded in 2012 as a healthier and non-toxic alternative for most baby, cosmetic and household products.

Most of the lawsuits allege that The Honest Company’s laundry detergent, dish soap and multiple-surface cleaner contain sodium lauryl sulfate, which can irritate the skin, despite statements by the company that it doesn’t use the harsh chemical.

One plaintiff, Staci Seed, who filed her class action lawsuit against The Honest Company in California back in March, alleges that the company is “misleading [consumers] in the extreme” by advertising its products as SLS-free.

Seed says she purposefully sought out products that did not contain the chemical and purchased Honest’s products because the labels say that the company uses sodium coco sulfate (SCS) as a less-harsh alternative to SLS.

The Wall Street Journal investigation, as well as chemistry professors contacted by Inc., have confirmed that SCS is blend of chemicals that includes a significant amount of SLS.

Another lawsuit consolidated into the multidistrict litigation, originally filed in September 2015 challenges The Honest Co.’s “natural” claims in several of its products.

Specifically, plaintiff Jonathan Rubin, who was the first to bring claims against The Honest Company, contends that several of the products contain including Honest Hand Soap, Honest Diapers and Honest Multi-Surface Cleaner contain “synthetic ingredients” and that the company’s sunscreen is “ineffective,” leaving people with severe sunburns.

Another related class action lawsuit brought by two New York residents accuse The 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.

This class action lawsuit is pending in New York Federal Court and has not been added to the multidistrict litigation in California.

The Honest Company MDL is In Re: The Honest Company Inc., Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) Marketing and Sales Practices Litigation, MDL No. 2719, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

UPDATE: 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 2: On Sept. 18, 2017, The Honest Company sodium lauryl sulfate class action settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim.

UPDATE 3: 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.