Lawsuit Over Alleged ‘Pump Defect’ Affecting L’Oréal Cosmetic Bottles Transferred to New York

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A proposed class action filed last February against L’Oréal USA, Inc. over an alleged defect with its manual pumping bottles was transferred to New York’s Southern District Court on January 15, 2021.

According to the lawsuit, L’Oréal has failed to disclose to consumers that the pumps for some of its cosmetic items are defective and cannot “adequately and reasonably dispense” a large percentage of the product. Moreover, the design of the glass bottles prevents consumers from opening them to access the rest of the product, which in some cases can be more than half of the bottle’s original contents, the suit argues.

Per the case, the pump defect affects two liquid foundations, L’Oréal “Visible Lift Serum Absolute” and Maybelline “Superstay Better Skin Skin-Transforming Foundation,” L’Oréal “Age Perfect Eye Renewal Eye Cream” and “Revitalift Bright Reveal Brightening Day Moisturizer.”

Given consumers typically spend around $15 for the makeup, the pump defect causes them to lose out on roughly $7 per purchase, the lawsuit estimates, claiming that independent laboratory testing has confirmed that the bottles dispense between as little as 43 to 81 percent of the liquid inside.

The lawsuit alleges that L’Oréal has been aware of the pump defect for at least 10 years due to numerous consumer complaints posted on the company’s websites.

Per the suit, consumers would not have purchased the products, or would have paid less for them, had they known they would not be able to access a large portion of the makeup as a result L’Oréal’s “defective and misleading” packaging.

A similar lawsuit was filed against L’Oréal in New York by the same law firms back in July 2018 but was eventually dismissed after the judge agreed with the company’s argument that the plaintiffs’ claims were preempted by federal law and failed to show that the products were falsely or misleadingly labeled. After appealing the suit’s dismissal, the plaintiffs’ counsel filed this lawsuit in California’s Central District Court. Because the two suits are “substantially similar” and litigation had already taken place in New York, the judge overseeing the active case granted L’Oréal’s motion to transfer the lawsuit to New York’s Southern District Court, according to court documents.

The full complaint can be read below.

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