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The Honest Company Agrees to $1.55M Settlement Over Detergent


— June 9, 2017

Parents, have you purchased Honest Company detergent for your children’s laundry lately? If so, you might be able to cash in on a nationwide, $1.55 million class action lawsuit that Jessica Alba’s The Honest Company recently agreed to pay for misleading “customers about the ingredients in its laundry detergent, dish soap, and multipurpose cleaner.”


Parents, have you purchased Honest Company detergent for your children’s laundry lately? If so, you might be able to cash in on a nationwide, $1.55 million class action lawsuit that Jessica Alba’s The Honest Company recently agreed to pay for misleading “customers about the ingredients in its laundry detergent, dish soap, and multipurpose cleaner.”

So how will the process work? How can parents cash in and how much will each person receive? For starters, “customers who bought the products will be able to apply for a refund, pending court approval of the deal.” At the moment, “those without receipts can receive up to $50,” while others who actually have a receipt or other proof of purchase “can file for more.”

Jessica Alba; Image Courtesy of Radar Online, http://radaronline.com/

The class action lawsuit itself began after the Wall Street Journal launched an investigation into The Honest Company back in March of 2016 and “found that Honest detergent contained a chemical it promised to leave out.” It turns out the company “advertised its detergent as free of sodium lauryl sulfate, a common cleaning agent, and said it used the gentler sodium coco sulfate instead.” However, the investigation concluded that “SLS is a component of SCS,” prompting a slew of lawsuits against the company.

Fortunately, in addition to the settlement, “Honest has agreed to reformulate the cleaning products so they’re free of both chemicals,” though company officials have so far rejected any wrongdoing on their part. In fact, a company spokeswoman, Karen Richman said in a statement:

“We vigorously deny any and all allegations alleged in the lawsuit — specifically that any of our cleaning products contain SLS. However, given the fact that continued litigation could be protracted and expensive, we have settled this lawsuit to limit further costs and distraction to our business.”

This isn’t the first time The Honest Company has faced legal action against it, though. In 2015, the company “was sued by a customer who said its sunscreen doesn’t work and isn’t really natural,” and in 2016 the “Organic Consumers Association filed a suit claiming that Honest baby formula contains ingredients that aren’t really organic.” While the case surrounding the baby formula has been dismissed, the sunscreen case is “still being litigated.”

Additionally, the company has “issued two voluntary product recalls” so far this year, including a recall of some baby wipes due to mold concerns, and baby powder over concerns that it can “cause skin or eye infections.”

Sources:

If you bought Honest Company detergent, you could score a refund

$1.55M settlement: If you bought Honest Company detergent, you could score a refund

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