Clorox Recall: Class Action Lawsuit Filed Over Alleged Mistolin, Lestoil Contamination

A proposed class action lawsuit alleges that The Clorox Company failed to warn consumers that millions of bottles of scented Mistolin and Lestoil multi-purpose cleaners sold in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands were potentially contaminated with a dangerous bacterium that could cause serious infections.

The 39-page lawsuit against The Clorox Company was filed in the wake of the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC) announcement on September 3, 2026 of the recall of approximately 6.3 million bottles of scented Mistolin and Lestoil due to the cleaners’ potential contamination with Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacterial pathogen commonly found in soil or water that can infect the blood, lungs, urinary tract, eyes and open wounds.

According to the case, Clorox knew or should have known of the contamination risk—particularly after the 2022 recall of 37 million bottles of Pine-Sol cleaners and a hefty civil penalty for its delayed reporting of the problem—yet continued to market, distribute and sell the Mistolin and Lestoil cleaners as safe and fit for their ordinary purpose without warning consumers that the products potentially contained a harmful pathogen.

The filing contends that the recalled Clorox cleaners, which the case says are “ubiquitous” in Puerto Rico, have “no lawful market value, cannot safely be used as directed, and must be discarded.” Compounding matters, the lawsuit claims, is that Clorox failed to provide direct notice of the recall to consumers in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands—where the cleaners are found in many households—or through a sustained Spanish-language outreach campaign to reach the hundreds of thousands of consumers who purchased the products.

The suit goes on to allege that the Clorox recall is inadequate given that the relief offered by the company “fall[s] far short of making consumers whole,” not to mention fails to reimburse those who incurred additional costs to remediate and clean areas where the adulterated products were used.

“Even after the reported hazards became known, Defendant continued to prioritize profits over safety,” the lawsuit alleges. “Despite finally acknowledging the Defect, Defendant has still failed to provide consumers ... with any meaningful remedy.”

Clorox was on notice of potential cleaning products contamination, lawsuit argues

According to the Clorox lawsuit, the company is “well aware” of the risks associated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa, as it is the same bacterium that led the conglomerate to recall roughly 37 million bottles of Pine-Sol in October 2022.

In January of this year, “the very period in which the [Mistolin and Lestoil cleaners] were being manufactured,” the case points out, Clorox agreed to pay a $14.15 million civil penalty to resolve CPSC charges that the company knowingly failed to immediately report the Pine-Sol contamination to the federal government, despite Clorox’s own microbiologists having documented possible contamination in its storage tanks as early as 2019.

The complaint says that Clorox subsequently agreed to improve its control and compliance procedures and to submit annual compliance reports to the CPSC.

Additionally, Clorox eventually agreed to pay $5.65 million in a class action settlement to resolve several related lawsuits, including Charles v. The Clorox Company, that alleged the company sold the affected Pine-Sol products with no disclosure of potential contamination, the suit mentions.

In light of the foregoing, the suit charges that Clorox knew “from direct and expensive experience,” that its Mistolin and Lestoil scented multi-surface cleaners, which the case says are relatively similar to the recalled Pine-Sol products, were vulnerable to contamination, yet “did nothing” with regard to warning consumers.

In both cases only the scented variants were contaminated, while the unscented formulation was not, demonstrating that the fragrance and preservative systems Defendant selected for its scented cleaners are inadequate to prevent Pseudomonas growth, and that Defendant failed to correct that inadequacy across its scented cleaner portfolio after the Pine-Sol recall.”

The case goes on to state that Clorox knew or should have known of the contamination in the products at issue through its own microbial testing, pre-market safety testing, product design and engineering, and more, yet failed to disclose that the products were adulterated until the September 2026 recall, meaning the contaminated products were on shelves for months after they had been produced.

Mistolin and Lestoil recall is inadequate, case claims

The class action lawsuit contends that the Mistolin and Lestoil recall falls well short of making consumers whole. For one, although consumers were told to immediately stop using the cleaners at issue and dispose of them in the trash, receiving a refund through the recall requires completing an online form and supplying a photo of the bottle’s UPC code, the case relays.

In light of this, the suit says that the program “excludes most of the Products that were sold” in that the cleaners at issue were sold for 17 months before the recall, and the “great majority” of the 6.3 million units sold “have already been used up and discarded.”

“Yet Defendant conditions any refund on a photograph of the UPC code on the bottle,” the filing reiterates. “A consumer who no longer has the bottle receives nothing, no matter how many bottles they bought and used.”

Second, the amount of any refund a consumer may receive through the recall is set by Clorox, and not dependent on what they paid— approximately $1.40 to $8.00 per bottle, per the suit—for the affected products, the lawsuit continues.

The case also says that the recall program fails to compensate consumers for remediation and cleaning expenses they may have incurred from spraying and pouring an adulterated product throughout their house, including on floors, countertops, sinks, tubs, and more.

“Reasonable consumers who learn that they have done so must now disinfect those surfaces with a product they can trust, discard and replace the mops, sponges, and cloths that were saturated with the contaminated Products, and purchase replacement cleaning products to do so,” the filing elaborates.

 Additionally, the lawsuit claims that the recall unfairly shifts to consumers the burden and risk associated with disposing of contaminated cleaning products, as users generally lack the guidance or protective measures needed to handle infectious pathogens.

Which Clorox products were recalled?

The filing says the products at issue in the recall are all Mistolin and Lestoil scented liquid multi-purpose cleaners in 28-, 40-, 64- and 128-ounce bottles manufactured between April 1, 2025 and June 17, 2026 and sold throughout Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Who is covered by the Clorox lawsuit?

The Clorox class action lawsuit looks to cover all individuals who purchased one or more of the recalled Mistolin and Lestoil products in Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands for personal or household use and not for resale during the fullest period allowed by law.

How do I sign up for the Clorox class action lawsuit?

Generally, you don’t need to do anything to join or sign up for a class action lawsuit when it is initially filed. Should the case be resolved with a class action settlement, settlement class members will typically receive written notice of the deal via mail and/or email with instructions on any next steps and details about their legal rights.

If you’ve purchased one or more scented Mistolin or Lestoil cleaning products, or just want to stay informed about class action lawsuit and class action settlement news, sign up for ClassAction.org’s free weekly newsletter. Check out ClassAction.org’s lawsuit list for the latest open class action lawsuits and investigations.