Purex Crystals Sold in Underfilled Containers, Class Action Claims

A California woman says containers of Purex Crystals are purposely underfilled to deceive consumers.

Plaintiff Claudine Macaspac says Purex Crystals, a fragrance booster for laundry, are sold in bottles that contain an inordinate amount of empty space, giving purchasers the impression they’re getting more product than is actually there. She is raising claims against defendant Henkel Corporation for violations of several California consumer protection laws.

Research into consumer behavior shows that a larger container can influence a shopper’s choice of products, according to Macaspac. When consumers choose which product to buy in-store, it’s typically a quick decision based heavily on the product’s packaging. Macaspac says that “[p]eople assume the larger box is a better value.”

According to Macaspac, 30 percent of each container of Purex Crystals contains nothing but empty space. Henkel packages Purex Crystals in an opaque container that prevents consumers from seeing how much product is inside the container, Macaspac says.

Macaspac argues that if consumers like herself would not purchase Purex Crystals if they knew the package was underfilled. She says she bought a bottle of Purex Crystals from a San Diego Walmart in May 2017, assuming that the size of the container was a rough indicator of how much product was inside.

It wasn’t until after she bought the bottle of Purex Crystals that she discovered it contained a significant amount of empty space. Macaspac argues this empty space is forbidden by California law as “non-functional slack-fill.”

Like similar federal regulations, the California Fair Packaging and Labeling Act limits the amount of empty space in the packaging of consumer products. Under that law, “[a] container that does not allow the consumer to fully view its contents shall be considered misleading if it contains nonfunctional slack fill.”

Overall, the CFPLA requires product packaging to give the consumer an accurate idea of the product’s volume and facilitate value comparisons between competitor products. While the CFPLA recognizes a few legitimate purposes for slack-fill, additional space not necessary to serve these purposes may be misleading to the purchaser.

Macaspac argues the empty space in bottles of Purex Crystals constitutes non-functional slack-fill. She says this slack-fill serves no legitimate purpose other than to mislead consumers into thinking they’re getting more product than they actually are.

Her allegations are essentially the same as those brought in another Purex Crystals class action lawsuit filed earlier this summer, also brought in California federal court.

Macaspac proposes to represent a statewide Class of California residents who within the applicable statutory limitations period purchased Purex Crystals packaged in “containers made, formed or filled as to be misleading and with non-functional slack-fill.”

She is asking the court to award damages, restitution, and injunctive relief, plus reimbursement of attorneys’ fees and costs of litigation.

Macaspac is represented by attorneys Ronald A. Marron, Michael Houchin and Adam Belsey of Law Offices of Ronald A. Marron.

The Purex Crystals Slack-Fill Class Action Lawsuit is Macaspac v. Henkel Corporation, Case No. 3:17-cv-01755, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.