EOS Faces Class Action Lawsuit Over Lip Balm ‘Blistering’ Claims

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The celebrity-endorsed lip balm maker EOS faces a potential class action lawsuit over allegations that the product causes cracking, bleeding and blistering of the lips.

EOS is an acronym for “Evolution of Smooth” and the company’s lip balm is known as EOS Visibly Soft Lip Balm. The lip balm comes in colorful oval containers and is one of the highest-grossing lip balm products today, according to the EOS class action lawsuit.

Plaintiff Rachael Cronin filed the EOS lip balm lawsuit after allegedly experiencing a host of negative reactions following the purchase and use of the “Summer Fruit” flavored EOS lip balm on Dec. 4, 2015. According to the EOS class action lawsuit, Cronin’s lips became dry and coarse, feeling like “sandpaper” within a few hours of applying the lip balm.

Cronin claims her lips began to crack on the edges, causing her skin to flake and bleed from the cracks. The following day, Cronin says her lips and surrounding skin area started severely blistering which prompted her to seek medical care.

Experiencing “severe shock and panic” as a result of her condition that lasted for approximately 10 days, Cronin claims she shared her story on Facebook complete with pictures of her face. The EOS lip balm class action lawsuit states that Cronin’s Facebook post “set off a frenzy of other responses from other individuals who shared the identical experience with EOS.”

Cronin hopes to represent herself and other U.S. Class Members who have experienced a similar situation “to compel EOS to be a transparent and responsible corporate citizen by (1) publicly addressing and curing the overwhelming health concerns it has received from consumers, (2) warning consumers of the adverse effects caused by the product on its packaging, website and marketing materials, and (3) making whole the consumers who have been injured by the product.”

In addition to a nationwide class, Cronin has also proposed a California subclass. The class will include individuals who “have experienced devastating adverse reactions to the product, consisting of mild to severe rashes, dryness, bleeding, blistering, cracking, and loss of pigmentation, lasting from a few days, to a few months, and some consumers with long lasting and perhaps permanent symptoms.”

The EOS class action lawsuit alleges fraud, unjust enrichment, breach of express warranty, violations of the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act and the California Unfair Business Practice Act.

Cronin is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, restitution, disgorgement of revenues, declaratory and injunctive relief, a corrective advertising campaign to be carried out by EOS and attorneys’ fees and costs for pursuing the litigation.

The EOS lawsuit estimates that tens of thousands, and possibly hundreds of thousands of individuals have purchased the product and have suffered the ill effects reported in this claim.

Cronin is represented by Mark J. Geragos, Ben J. Meiselas and Frida Hjort of Geragos & Geragos.

The EOS Lip Balm Class Action Lawsuit is Rachael Cronin, et al. v. EOS Products LLC, Case No. 2:16-cv-00235 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California

UPDATE: On Jan. 28, 2016, EOS announced that it would settle the five proposed class action lawsuits. The terms of the EOS settlement are unknown at this time but keep checking TopClassActions.com for updates.