OFF! Clean Feel Doesn’t Repel Mosquitoes, Class Action Claims

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On Wednesday, S.C. Johnson & Son Inc. was hit with a class action lawsuit claiming its OFF! Family Care Clean Feel Insect Repellant is a “complete sham” because it does not actually repel mosquitos, despite representations that it provides “effective protection from mosquitoes.”

Unlike other insect repellants distributed by S.C. Johnson, OFF! Clean Feel does not contain deet.

Plaintiff Daniel Bourbia points to data from an independent laboratory testing commissioned earlier this year by his attorneys which revealed that OFF! Clean Feel was ineffective at repelling Aedes and Culex mosquitoes, which the insect repellant class action lawsuit says are the most common species of mosquitoes in the United States.

“Defendant’s Product failed the laboratory testing almost immediately–within half an hour of application, all of the test subjects were bitten by both species of mosquitoes,” the OFF! Clean Feel class action lawsuit states.

Bourbia says the results from the laboratory testing do not support the product’s instructions to consumers to reapply every three to four hours, and warn consumers not to apply the insect repellant more than three times per day.

The OFF! Clean Feel class action lawsuit claims the insect repellant also “flunked” 2016 testing by Consumer Reports to determine how well it protects against Aedes and Culex mosquitoes, which can spread the Zika and West Nile viruses, respectively.

The Consumer Reports testing found that consumers who applied OFF! Clean Feel were bitten by both species of mosquitoes within one hour, the mosquito repellant class action lawsuit says.

Bourbia, who resides in New York, N.Y., says he purchased OFF! Clean Feel in the summer of 2016 for approximately $7. Before making the purchase, he says he carefully read the product’s labeling and relied on the statements that the product was an “insect repellant,” that it “repels mosquitoes,” and that it provided “effective protection from mosquitoes.”

According to the OFF! class action lawsuit, Bourbia used OFF! Clean Feel as directed but it did not provide effective protection from mosquitoes. He says he would not have purchased the OFF! Clean Feel product, or would not have paid as much for it, if he had known that the representations were false and misleading.

Bourbia filed the OFF! class action lawsuit on behalf of himself and a proposed Class of consumers who purchased OFF! Clean Feel products. He also seeks to represent a New York subclass.

The OFF! Clean Feel class action lawsuit asserts violations of New York consumer protection laws, unjust enrichment, breach of express warranty, and fraud. Bourbia is seeking compensatory, statutory and punitive damages; restitution; prejudgment interest; an order compelling S.C. Johnson to undertake a corrective advertising campaign and prohibiting the company from continuing the allegedly deceptive practices; and reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs.

Bourbia is represented by Scott A. Bursor, Yitzchak Kopel and Alec M. Leslie of Bursor & Fisher PA.

The OFF! Clean Feel Mosquito Repellant Class Action Lawsuit is Daniel Bourbia v. S.C. Johnson & Son Inc., Case No. 1:18-cv-03944, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.