L’Oréal Paris Product Labels Mislead Consumers, Class Action Alleges [DISMISSED]
Last Updated on April 6, 2023
Eshelby v. L’Oréal USA, Inc.
Filed: February 18, 2022 ◆§ 1:22-cv-01396
A class action contends that the word “Paris” on certain L’Oréal cosmetics labels misleads reasonable consumers into believing the products are imported from France.
California Business and Professions Code California Unfair Competition Law California Consumers Legal Remedies Act
New York
A proposed class action contends that the inclusion of the word “Paris” on certain L’Oréal cosmetics misleads reasonable consumers into believing the products are imported from France.
The 32-page case says that millions of American consumers have overpaid for certain L’Oréal Paris products that “are not what they claim to be” given the items are made in the company’s factory in Arkansas. As the suit tells it, L’Oréal charges U.S. consumers a “corresponding premium price” based on the representation that the cosmetics at issue, whose labels also include French language descriptions, are imported from France.
“In fact, the L’Oréal Products are not even designed in France (much less made there and then imported into the U.S.),” the complaint says.
According to the suit, defendant L’Oréal USA, Inc. is based in New York, and the back of each product label states in “tiny print” “L’Oréal USA, New York, NY.”
Per the case, American consumers associate French beauty products with quality, luxury and prestige and as such are willing to pay a higher price for the items. The complaint argues that within the beauty industry, a product labeled as “Paris” is enough to cause a reasonable consumer to believe that the item is from France and pay a corresponding premium.
“Nothing on the front label, or in any of Defendant’s advertisements, states or suggests that the L’Oréal Products are not actually manufactured in Paris, and are instead manufactured in Arkansas and elsewhere,” the complaint says. “To the contrary, in each L’Oréal Product, Defendant hides this information on the back or side of the label, in small text.”
The lawsuit stresses that L’Oréal’s fine-print disclosures do not stop reasonable consumers from being misled as to the products’ origin.
The specific L’Oréal products covered by the case include all items that bear the word “Paris” but are not made in France. The proposed class action looks to represent all consumers who bought a L’Oréal product bearing the word “Paris” in the United States during the applicable statute of limitations period.
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April 6, 2023 – L’Oréal Paris Product Labeling Class Action Dismissed
The proposed class action detailed on this page was dismissed on March 27, 2023 after a federal judge found that the plaintiff had failed to state a claim.
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In a 12-page order granting the defendant’s motion to dismiss the case, U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres agreed with L’Oréal’s assertion that the use of the word “Paris” on product packaging would not mislead a reasonable consumer into believing the cosmetics were made in France.
“As a matter of law, a mere reference to Paris is insufficient to deceive a reasonable consumer regarding the manufacturing location of a product,” Judge Torres wrote.
According to the judge, consumers understand that “Paris” is part of the brand name “L’Oréal Paris” rather than a reference to where the product was manufactured. Ultimately, Judge Torres stated that the Paris-headquartered company “has a right to use its brand name to correctly indicate that its products belong to the L’Oréal Paris brand.”
Finally, the judge pointed out that each product contains a disclosure on the back label that clearly states where it was manufactured.
The judge denied the plaintiffs’ request to amend the suit.
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