L’Oreal Hair Relaxer Lawsuit Proceeds

July 18, 2024, 8:15AM. By Jane Mundy

The Georgia Court of Appeals has given the green light to a L’Oreal Hair Relaxer Lawsuit filed by several Georgia women

Atlanta, GASeveral Georgia women who filed a lawsuit against L'Oreal for negligence and fraud related to the use of hair relaxers have been given the go-ahead by the Georgia Court of Appeals. The French multinational personal care company had previously asked the courts to dismiss the complaints. Plaintiffs, including Kiara Burroughs, accuse the companies of selling hair relaxation, or lanthionization, products that caused or increased the risk of women developing uterine, ovarian or breast cancer, endometriosis, uterine fibroids or other injuries to the reproductive system. 

In February 2023 the lawsuits were consolidated in Illinois and in July last year the companies moved to dismiss the consolidated litigation. U.S. District Judge Mary M. Rowland in November largely denied L'Oreal, Revlon and other companies' hair relaxers bids to dismiss the multidistrict litigation and allowed the majority of claims to move forward in the litigation that included more than 8,000 lawsuits. Judge Rowland said the plaintiffs had put forward sufficient facts to support their allegations accusing the companies of negligence, defective design of the products and failure to warn customers of the risks, breach of warranty, unjust enrichment and wrongful death. Reuters reported that, of the 15 counts in the complaint, Rowland dismissed three entirely and a portion of a fourth, finding the plaintiffs had not done enough to bolster their claims that the companies committed fraud. 

L'Oreal lists on its website products it doesn’t use, including formaldehyde, but adds that “they may be present in technically unavoidable traces”. Namaste, which markets ORS Olive Oil relaxers, said all ingredients in its products are approved for cosmetic use by U.S. regulators. The other companies named in the litigation, including L]Oreal and Revlon, declined to comment or didn't respond to Reuter’s requests. L’Oreal and Revlon, however, did tell Reuters their products are subject to rigorous safety reviews.

Hair Relaxer Companies Denied Arguments

Of the plaintiffs’ 15 claims, Judge Rowland rejected the companies' argument that eight of them— including claims for negligent misrepresentation, fraudulent misrepresentation and unjust enrichment — are preempted by the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act. Her order stated that the companies had not shown that the plaintiffs want to impose labeling requirements that are different from those imposed by the federal law. As for the plaintiffs' negligence and strict liability claims, Rowland rejected the companies' argument that the plaintiffs haven't sufficiently stated a general negligence claim with their allegations that the defendants had "a duty to exercise reasonable care in the manufacturing, designing ... selling and distributing of their hair relaxer products,"

As reported by Law360, and according to the order, Rowland said, "The allegations read as a whole give rise to the inference that defendants' conduct proximately caused plaintiffs' injuries: more is not needed at this stage," and that the consumers also alleged that the companies "knew or should have known that phthalates and other [endocrine-disrupting chemicals] in their hair relaxer products significantly increase the risk of cancers and other negative health conditions." Also rejected was the companies' contention that the consumers' allegations that the hair relaxer products ‘were defectively designed because they caused serious injuries and death’ are conclusory…Rather, the consumers have specifically alleged the products contained toxic chemicals that significantly increase the risk of cancers.”

The case is In re: Hair Relaxer Marketing Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, case number 1:23-cv-00818, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Cosmetics and the FDA

The law does not require cosmetic products and ingredients, other than color additives, to have FDA approval before they go on the market. Under the law, cosmetic products and ingredients do not need FDA premarket approval, with the exception of color additives. However, FDA can pursue enforcement action against products on the market that are not in compliance with the law, or against firms or individuals who violate the law.

Companies and individuals who manufacture or market cosmetics have a legal responsibility to ensure the safety of their products. Neither the law nor FDA regulations require specific tests to demonstrate the safety of individual products or ingredients. The law also does not require cosmetic companies to share their safety information with FDA.

However, existing FDA regulations did not require approval before releasing the products to market, and they were not required to disclose this information to the public. Despite not needing to disclose the information, the fact that they knew their products contained dangerous chemicals allows them to be held accountable in hair relaxer lawsuits.

L’Oreal Hair Straightener Lawsuits

Many lawsuits claim that several of L’Oreal’s products, such as Soft Sheen Carson Optimum and Dark & Lovely, contain dangerous EDCs that can increase the risk of developing uterine cancer.

In October 2022, a few days after the release of the National Institute of Health study (which found that women who frequently used hair straightening products were more than twice as likely to go on to develop uterine cancer compared to those who did not use the products) the first lawsuit was filed against L'Oreal as a hair relaxer defendant. Jenny Mitchell, 28 years old, claimed that her 2018 uterine cancer diagnosis was caused by the regular use of L’Oreal products that exposed since 2000 her to phthalates and other EDCs that caused uterine cancer. She had no choice but to undergo a hysterectomy. Mitchell argued that that L’Oreal knew of the harmful effects of chemicals such as phthalates in their hair relaxers as early as 2015.

In that same month a Florida woman filed a product liability lawsuit against L’Oreal claiming hair relaxer products caused her to develop endometriosis and uterine fibroids, resulting in the need for a uterine myomectomy to remove them. KeAira Gamble began using hair relaxer products in 1994, when she was only six years old, and continued to use hair straighteners until at least 2012: she was exposed to toxic chemicals in the hair relaxers for 18 years.

According to the lawsuit, “Ms. Gamble’s uterine fibroids are directly and proximately caused by her regular and prolonged exposure to phthalates and other endocrine disrupting chemicals found in Defendant’s hair relaxer products,” according to the lawsuit, which involves claims for strict liability, failure to warn, design and manufacturing defects, negligence, misrepresentation, fraud, concealment, breach of express and implied warranty, violation of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, violation of the Georgia Fair Business Practices Act of 1975, and negligent failure to issue a hair relaxer recall after the manufacturer learned about the risks associated with their products.”