California Baby Bug Repellent Doesn’t Work, Class Action Says

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A class action lawsuit claims that California Baby Natural Bug Blend Bug Repellent, a product marketed as bug spray safe for babies, doesn’t repel mosquitoes as advertised.

Plaintiff Lisa Rosillo claims that she purchased the Natural Bug Blend Bug Repellant bug spray at a Walmart in Apple Valley, Calif. for $15 on or around July 2016.

She says she purchased the bug spray specifically because the label said the product would repel mosquitos, but when she had the product independently tested, it was revealed to not repel the two most common types of mosquitos.

Allegedly, Rosillo had the product tested to see how it protected against Aedes mosquitos, the kind of mosquito that bites during the day and can spread the Zika virus, and Culex mosquitos, the type of mosquito that bites at night and can spread West Nile virus.

The California Baby Natural Bug Blend Bug Repellent class action lawsuit states that the product was equally ineffective in protecting against both kinds of mosquitos.

Rosillo claims that she read the product’s label before purchasing it, using the information on the product label to make her purchasing decision.

The natural bug repellent class action lawsuit alleges that Rosillo and other reasonable consumers rely exclusively on the statements made by a product’s manufacturer on labels and advertisements when making purchasing decisions.

So, the plaintiff claims that reasonable consumers would be misled by statements that the Natural Bug Blend Bug Repellent repels mosquitos.

In the bug spray class action lawsuit, Rosillo aims to represent all similarly affected consumers, and hold the makers of the bug spray, California Natural Living Inc., accountable for violating California consumer protection laws, unjust enrichment, breach of express and implied warranties, and fraud.

She seeks for California Natural Living to pay restitution to putative Class Members for the enrichment the company unjustly gained from selling a defective product.

Rosillo states that in future, she wants to only purchase effective bug spray that works as advertised. However, she claims that she does not know if California Natural Living bug sprays will work as advertised in future, unless the company is held accountable.

The plaintiff claims that in accordance with the requirements for filing a class action lawsuit, after she discovered that the bug spray was ineffective in repelling the two most common types of mosquitos, she contacted California Natural Living to inform them of the problem and ask them to remedy the situation within 30 days. Allegedly, they did not remedy the situation, so she then took legal action.

The California Natural Living bug spray class action lawsuit states that “the fact at Ms. Rosillo now knows that this particular product is not an effective bug spray does not mean that she can simply look at [its] labeling to determine whether its ‘bug repellent’ labeling is accurate. Companies frequently substitute one ingredient for another so she cannot be sure if the product has improved or not.”

Rosillo is represented by L. Timothy Fisher, Joel D. Smith and Scott A. Bursor of Bursor & Fisher PA.

The California Baby Natural Bug Blend Bug Repellent Class Action Lawsuit is Lisa Rosillo v. California Natural Living Inc., Case No. 5:18-cv-01493, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.