Clearly Natural Essentials Class Action Says Soaps Contain Synthetic Ingredients

Soaps marketed under the Clearly Natural Essentials brand are deceptively labeled to hide their synthetic ingredients, according to a class action lawsuit.

Plaintiff Mona Paul says she was taken in by the alleged deception when she purchased Clearly Natural Essentials products from a market in California. She says she relied on labeling that presented the products as “Clearly Natural” and “Pure and Natural.”

Her understanding of that labeling was that it meant the products contained no synthetic ingredients, according to this Clearly Natural Essentials class action lawsuit.

But contrary to these representations on the label, Paul says she later discovered that Clearly Natural Essentials products contain several ingredients that are artificially derived – ingredients that no reasonable consumer would consider “natural.”

Paul lists several such ingredients in her Clearly Natural Essentials class action lawsuit, ingredients such as glycerin, sodium citrate, decyl glucoside, phenoxyethanol, and ethylhexylglycerin.

Glycerin, Paul explains, is a “factory-produced texturizer that is created by complex processing.” A technical report for the USDA National Organic Program describes glycerin as a “synthetic nonagricultural (nonorganic) substance.”

Given the allegedly synthetic nature of these ingredients, Paul claims, the labeling that describe these products as “natural” is “deceptive, false, and misleading.” She accuses defendant Beaumont Products Inc. of using the alleged deception to exploit consumer interest in natural products.

Products labeled as containing only natural ingredients draw more consumer interest than other products that aren’t similarly labeled, according to Paul. Consumers perceive natural products as being safer and more healthful than products with artificial ingredients, she says.

For that reason, consumers are willing to pay a premium for natural products that they wouldn’t pay for products with synthetic ingredients. Paul claims Beaumont Products exploits that interest by putting cheaper synthetic ingredients in its Clearly Natural Essentials products, then falsely advertising them as “natural.”

Paul alleges that had she and her proposed Class Members known the truth about Clearly Natural Essentials, they would not have purchased the products or would have been willing to pay a lower price for them.

The class action lawsuit names 19 specific Clearly Natural Essentials soaps and one Clearly Naturals body lotion that are subject to the alleged mislabeling.

Paul’s claims echo those in an earlier Clearly Natural Essentials class action lawsuit filed last October. In that action, New York plaintiff Silvio Ciancio claims that products promised to be a “luxurious blend of essential oils and natural vegetable glycerine” actually contain a slew of synthetic chemical compounds that can’t reasonably be considered natural.

Paul’s proposed plaintiff Class would cover all persons who purchased the Clearly Natural Essentials products at issue anywhere in the U.S. during the applicable statutory limitations period.

She is asking the court to order Beaumont Products to cease the disputed marketing and comply with applicable laws. She also seeks an award of damages, costs and expenses related to the litigation, and reimbursement of attorneys’ fees and experts’ fees.

Counsel for the plaintiff is Reuben D. Nathan of Nathan and Associates APC and Jason P. Sultzer, Joseph Lipari and Adam Gonnelli of The Sultzer Law Group PC.

The Clearly Natural Essentials Class Action Lawsuit is Mona Paul v. Beaumont Products Inc., Case No. 8:17-cv-01225, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.