Class action law firms appear to have suited up against Santa Monica consumer products brand The Honest Company Inc., now facing yet another legal complaint.
A lawsuit filed Thursday by Margo Smith in Eastern Missouri District Court is seeking class action status for what Smith’s complaint alleged as deceptive marketing on Honest’s liquid laundry detergent, dish soap and multisurface cleaner among other products. Smith’s claim: Honest says its products are free of sodium lauryl sulfate, which she insists is false.
A spokesperson for the company could not be immediately reached for comment.
Jessica Alba and serial entrepreneur Brian Lee launched the fast-growing firm, focused on selling a wide range of eco-friendly products, in 2011. Last year saw the company launch its Honest Beauty line.
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Keane Law LLC, a firm based out of Missouri with a specialty in class action litigation, filed the lawsuit on behalf of Smith.
The suit could be fallout from a Wall Street Journal report published earlier this month that tested the Honest detergent and found SLS. Alba answered that article with a post on the company’s blog, called Honestly, expressing disappointment in the report, which she wrote was “full of misrepresentations” about the company. Alba goes on to say in the post that the company’s detergent uses sodium coco sulfate, which Smith’s lawsuit argued always contains the chemical SLS.
The filing comes a week after a complaint was brought on against the company by Staci Seed in the Central District of California, also seeking class action status and also claiming misleading advertising with respect to the company’s detergent, dish soap and surface cleaner being free of SLS.
The pair of lawsuits follow a couple class action complaints filed last year that placed the company’s SPF 30 sunscreen in the hot seat, alleging the product was ineffective.
Last month industry chatter bubbled over after it was reported the company was exploring an initial public offering. The firm’s most recent raise in August, a $100 million Series D round, valued Honest at $1.7 billion.