Herbal Essences Class Action Continues on False Advertising Claims

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The consumers alleging that Proctor & Gamble falsely advertises its Herbal Essences Wild Naturals hair care line overcame an effort to dismiss the class action lawsuit.

The Herbal Essences class action lawsuit alleges that the hair care products in the Wild Naturals line were misleadingly marketed as containing only natural ingredients.

Proctor & Gamble argued that the claims should be dismissed because no reasonable consumer would be duped by marketing claims on the products’ packaging that highlight natural sounding ingredients, such as cassia, seaberry, Turkish fig, and Thai lemon basil.

U.S. District Court Judge Troy L. Nunley disagreed and retained most of the claims in the Herbal Essences Wild Naturals class action lawsuit.

“The court cannot conclude at this stage of the litigation that a reasonable consumer would not be misled by the term ‘naturally’ or ‘Wild Naturals,’” noted Judge Nunley in the order.

The Herbal Essences class action lawsuit was trimmed of a claim based on New York consumer protection law that alleged negligent misrepresentation based on statements made on the company’s website.

Judge Nunley noted that the plaintiffs had not alleged that they relied on statements made on the Herbal Essences website before purchasing items from the Wild Naturals line of products.

“Here, Plaintiffs allege that they purchased the Products after seeing the Products’ labels, but do not allege that they looked at or relied upon anything on Defendant’s website before purchasing the Products,” points out the judge in his order.

However, the bulk of the claims in the Herbal Essences Wild Naturals class action lawsuit remain despite efforts by Proctor & Gamble to dodge the allegations.

According to the Herbal Essences Wild Naturals class action lawsuit, consumers were misled by statements made on the front of the products’ labels that touted supposedly natural ingredients in the hair care line.

The Herbal Essences Wild Naturals class action lawsuit covers nine hair care products sold under the line.

According to the plaintiffs, the backs of the bottles revealed that the products, in truth, contain a number of “synthetic, unnatural, and dangerous ingredients.”

They say that they and other consumers were tricked by Herbal Essences Wild Naturals labeling and that it was “false, misleading, and designed to deceive consumers into paying a price premium.”

In addition to claims for negligent misrepresentation, fraud, and breach of warranty, the Herbal Essences Wild Naturals class action lawsuit claims that Proctor & Gamble violated California and New York business and consumer protection laws.

The plaintiffs say that they and other consumers either would not have purchased or would not have paid as much for items out of the Herbal Essences Wild Naturals line had the misleading representations not been made on the product packaging.

The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Yeremey Krivoshey, L. Timothy Fisher, Joel D. Smith and Scott A. Bursor of Bursor & Fisher PA.

The Herbal Essences Wild Naturals Class Action Lawsuit is Tom Takano, et al. v. The Procter & Gamble Co., Case No. 2:17-cv-00385, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.