Class Action: Murad’s Clarifying ‘Oil-Free’ Water Gel Moisturizer Contains Oils [UPDATE]
by Erin Shaak
Last Updated on January 25, 2021
Daly v. Murad LLC
Filed: December 9, 2020 ◆§ 2020CH07174
A proposed class action claims Murad’s Clarifying Oil-Free Water Gel products, in contrast to label representations and consumers’ expectations, contain oil.
Illinois
Case Updates
January 20, 2021 – Case Removed to Federal Court
The lawsuit detailed on this page has been removed to the Northern District of Illinois.
Though the plaintiff initially filed the case in Cook County Circuit Court in early December, Murad filed a notice of removal on January 20, arguing that federal court is a more appropriate venue given the proposed class likely exceeds 100 people, at least one proposed class member resides in a state different from Murad and the amount in controversy likely exceeds $5,000,000.
The notice of removal can be read here.
Murad LLC faces a proposed class action that claims the company’s Clarifying Oil-Free Water Gel products, in contrast to label representations and consumers’ expectations, contain oil.
Per the case out of Cook County, Illinois Circuit Court, Murad has advertised the skincare products as oil-free despite knowing they contain the oils dimethicone and polyisobutene.
According to the suit, Dimethicone contains the silicone chemical functional group and would be defined as a polar oil. Polyisobutene largely contains the alkane functional group and would be defined as a non-polar oil, the case says.
The lawsuit argues consumers would not have been able to determine that the Clarifying Oil-Free Water Gel products contained oils without an advanced knowledge of chemistry and were misled into purchasing the moisturizer by the defendant’s “intentional, deceitful practice” of falsely labeling the skincare items as oil-free.
According to the case, the defendant was well aware that the products contained oils given it employs chemists to develop the gels’ chemical formulas. Per the suit, the company intentionally took advantage of consumers’ lack of knowledge on the subject by labeling the moisturizer as oil-free.
“On information and belief, Defendant through its employees did know that the Products contained oils but chose to include ‘oil-free’ labeling because it did not believe its customers were well educated enough to know the difference,” the complaint reads.
The plaintiff, an Illinois consumer, says he was unaware that the Clarifying Oil-Free Water Gel contained oils and would not have purchased the products had he known the truth.
The lawsuit echoes claims made in similar cases that allege Maybelline, L’Oréal and Walgreens have mislabeled oil-containing skincare products as oil-free.
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