Judge Won’t Dismiss Aveeno Natural Sunscreen Class Action

Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.

On March 31, a federal judge refused to toss a proposed Aveeno natural sunscreen class action lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson, a complaint which alleges the company mislabeled some Aveeno sunscreen products as “natural” or “naturally sourced” when the sunscreen was mostly made up of synthetic ingredients.

This Aveeno natural sunscreen class action lawsuit was originally filed in October 2013 by plaintiff Heidi Langan, a Connecticut mother who claims she bought two tubes of Aveeno Baby Brand Natural Protection Sunscreen Lotion under the assumption that the product included “100% naturally-sourced sunscreen ingredients.”

In the motion to dismiss the Aveeno natural sunscreen class action lawsuit, J&J argued that reasonable consumers would distinguish between active sunscreen ingredients and non-sunscreen ingredients and come to the conclusion that the components that provide solar protection were natural. However, this argument against the claims in the Aveeno Natural Sunscreen class action lawsuit was rejected by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Alker Meyer.

“Indeed, it seems perfectly reasonable to me that a typical consumer might interpret the phrase ‘100% naturally-sourced sunscreen ingredients’ on a sunscreen product label to mean that the whole product was natural,” Judge Meyer states. “I have little difficulty rejecting defendant’s argument that these phrases should be deemed not deceptive as a matter of law.”

J&J further argued that some ingredients listed on the back of some of Aveeno’s natural sunscreen product labels were obviously synthetic like hydroxyethyl acrylate/sodium acryloyldimethyl taurate copolymer.

Judge Meyer disagreed, finding that simply listing ingredients and leaving the origins of said ingredients up to consumer interpretation may not count as clarification under the law, because “[a]fter all, a quick Google search indicates that even an ordinary blueberry contains quite scary sounding ingredients like ‘isoleucine,’ ‘phenylalanine,’ and ‘phytosterols.’”

Additionally, the judge states that in Connecticut law there does not exist a statute that directly states whether a “reasonable consumer” would be expected to determine whether or not an ingredient is natural by just reading the its name.

Another argument J&J brought up in the motion to dismiss this Aveeno natural sunscreen class action lawsuit was the claim that the plaintiff improperly asserted federal government authority when she allegedly attempted to hold J&J to standards different than those laid out by the FDA. Langan shot back, claiming J&J’s argument would lead to an “absurd result” that companies like Johnson & Johnson are immune from misrepresenting ingredients in their products.

In the end, the Judge Meyer dismissed the company’s argument, ruling that the plaintiff is not attempting to step on federal government’s power, but is simply attempting to force J&J to use truthful product labels.

The plaintiff is represented by Mark P. Kindall, Jeffrey S. Nobel and Nicole A. Veno of Izard Nobel LLP and by Joseph J. DePalma and Katrina Carroll of Lite DePalma Greenberg LLC.

The Aveeno Natural Sunscreen Class Action Lawsuit is Heidi Langan v. Johnson & Johnson Consumer Cos. Inc., Case No. 3:13-cv-01470, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.

UPDATE: On March 13, 2017, a federal judge granted Class certification to a group of Aveeno baby wash consumers who claim Johnson & Johnson falsely marketed their products as “natural.” However, the judge declined to certify a proposed Class of Aveeno sunscreen users.

UPDATE 2: On June 7, 2017, Johnson & Johnson and Langan told the court that they reached a settlement in principle for the Aveeno “natural” sunscreen lawsuit and are ironing out the details. They asked the court to push back the filing deadline for their joint trial brief, giving them 30 more days to finalize the Aveeno sunscreen class action settlement.

UPDATE 3: February 2019, the Aveeno natural baby wash class action settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim. 

UPDATE 4: On Jan. 13, 2020, Top Class Actions viewers started receiving checks in the mail from the Aveeno natural baby wash class action settlement worth as much as $14.97. Congratulations to everyone who filed a claim and got PAID!