Do You Need It? Lysol Laundry Sanitizer Effects Are Unnecessary with Hot, Warm Water, Class Action Says [DISMISSED]
Last Updated on October 25, 2023
Vaglica v. Reckitt Benckiser LLC
Filed: September 25, 2022 ◆§ 2:22-cv-05730
Lysol laundry sanitizer does not kill “99.9% of bacteria” as advertised since the hot or warm water already does the job, a proposed class action claims.
New York
October 25, 2023 – Lysol Laundry Sanitizer Class Action Dismissed
The proposed class action detailed on this page was dismissed by a federal judge on October 19, 2023.
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In a 15-page memo and order issued that day, United States District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis granted Reckitt Benckiser’s June 2023 motion to dismiss the plaintiff’s first amended complaint, which was filed in March of this year.
According to the memo and order, Judge Garaufis found that the Lysol laundry sanitizer’s labeling was not misleading in that a typical consumer would not understand the label to imply the product provides an added benefit compared to conventional laundering.
“Because [the plaintiff] does not challenge the factual accuracy of the label, [the man’s] argument relies on an assumption that a label stating that the product kills 99.9% of bacteria must mean that the product provides a meaningful benefit as compared to standard laundering,” the judge wrote. “But the product's labels make no such comparison between the product's efficacy in killing bacteria and that of the standard laundering process.”
The judge said that “a reasonable consumer would not go as far as [the plaintiff] to infer a similar comparison.”
In light of the foregoing, the judge also threw out the plaintiff’s fraud and breach of warranty claims.
Per the judge’s ruling, the court dismissed the suit in its entirety the next day, on October 20 of this year.
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Lysol-brand laundry sanitizer does not kill “99.9% of bacteria” as advertised since the hot or warm water most people use to wash clothes already does the job, a proposed class action claims.
According to the 10-page suit out of New York, “no credible and accepted studies” on domestic laundry practices indicate that the spread of bacteria and/or infection from laundry poses a risk of bacteria transmission. Moreover, the hot temperature at which “most Americans” wash clothes “inactivates microorganisms, accelerates the activation of detergents and facilitates the mechanical removal of soil and other particulates,” the lawsuit states.
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Despite this, the front label of the Lysol laundry sanitizer fails to inform consumers that standard washing machine use at hot or warm temperatures is all it takes to achieve a reduction in nearly all bacteria, the complaint says.
“This information is only indirectly disclosed on the back label, through the statements, ‘Works in Cold Water,’ and ‘When you wash your clothes in cold water, bacteria can survive,’” the suit reads.
Per the case, the “cold water” disclaimer is a tacit acknowledgment by defendant Reckitt Benckiser that, for most consumers who use hot or warm water, the Lysol laundry sanitizer “provides no benefits beyond what they already receive from their water temperature and standard detergent.” These disclaimers themselves are “misleading,” the suit claims, in that washing in cold water with detergent, followed by a normal drying cycle, also reduces and minimizes the risk of bacteria survival “to a negligible level.”
Overall, the value of the Lysol laundry sanitizer is “materially less” than represented by Reckitt Benckiser, and the company sold more of the product, and at higher prices, due to the foregoing misrepresentations, the case alleges.
The lawsuit looks to cover consumers in New York, New Mexico, West Virginia, Iowa, Arkansas, Wyoming, Utah, Montana, Idaho and Alaska who bought Lysol laundry sanitizer within the applicable statute of limitations period.
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