Walmart class action claims Equate acne products contain benzene

Walmart Equate benzene class action lawsuit overview: 

• Who: Skylar Williams filed a class action lawsuit against Walmart Inc. 
• Why: Williams claims Walmart sells Equate acne products that contain the carcinogenic chemical benzene. 
• Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in Illinois federal court. 

A new Walmart class action claims the company manufactured and sold Equate acne products that contain the cancer-causing chemical benzene.

Plaintiff Skylar Williams’ class action lawsuit claims the Equate acne products contain the active ingredient benzoyl peroxide, which degrades directly into benzene over time. 

Williams argues the Equate acne products are not designed to contain benzene, however, and that Walmart’s alleged use of the chemical in its manufacturing process is “not unavoidable”

“Thus, the presence of benzene in the Products renders them adulterated and misbranded, and therefore illegal to sell under both federal and state law,” the Walmart Equate class action says. 

Williams seeks to represent a nationwide class as well as an Illinois and multi-state subclass of consumers who have purchased an Equate acne product for personal or household use within any applicable limitations period. 

Walmart class action: Company misrepresents Equate acne products’ benzene levels

The Walmart Equate class action claims the retail giant falsely gives consumers the impression that the Equate acne products do not contain benzene by not disclosing the chemical on their ingredients list. 

“Thus, Defendant misrepresents that the Products do not contain benzene, or otherwise Defendant fails to disclose that the Products contain benzene,” the Walmart class action states.

Williams claims Walmart is guilty of unjust enrichment and of violating the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Trade Practices Act and state consumer fraud acts. 

The plaintiff demands a jury trial and requests declaratory and injunctive relief, as well as an award of compensatory, statutory and punitive damages for herself and all class members. 

A pair of consumers filed a similar class action lawsuit against Walgreens Boots Alliance earlier this month over claims the company sold benzoyl peroxide products containing benzene. 

Have you purchased Equate acne products? Let us know in the comments.

The plaintiff is represented by Gary M. Klinger, Russell M. Busch, Nick Suciu III, J. Hunter Bryson and Luis Cardona of Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman PLLC, and Philip L. Fraietta of Bursor & Fisher, P.A. 

The Walmart Equate benzene class action lawsuit is Williams, et al. v. Walmart Inc., Case No. 1:24-cv-02173, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:

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• Johnson & Johnson class action alleges benzoyl peroxide acne products contain benzene