SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) – Two California women filed a class action lawsuit against L’Oreal USA, claiming the company engaged in deceptive practices when it marketed and sold certain cosmetics.
The plaintiffs, Renee Young and Roxanne Tierney, are seeking damages under California’s Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, the state’s Consumer Legal Remedies Act and the state’s Unfair Competition Law. The lawsuit also claims violations of implied warranties and claims unjust enrichment on the part of L’Oreal.
According to the lawsuit filed in the U.S District Court for the Northern District of California on Feb. 7, the cosmetic company’s liquid cosmetic products, including Liquid Foundation Lines, come in 1 fluid ounce or smaller containers and are equipped with a manual pump to dispense the makeup.
The consumers complain the pump clogs and/or breaks before half of the product is dispensed, making it impossible for customers to use all of the product they’ve paid for. The lawsuit alleges the company’s makeup containers are designed to disguise how much product remains inside, and that the bottles are designed to be "impossible to open" once the pump breaks.
The plaintiffs claim independent laboratory exponent testing revealed the bottles almost never dispensed the full amount of product inside, with results running from 43 percent dispensed to 81 percent of the advertised contents.
The lawsuit alleges the company knows about the faulty pump design, including direct customer complaints on its website to which it has replied to some, but has taken no steps to correct the flaw.
U.S District Court of Northern California case number 3:20-cv-00944-JSC