Benzene-based consumer class actions are becoming almost routine. So are their dismissals on preemption grounds. It takes something a little different to make one stand out. The plaintiff in Leonard v. CVS Pharmacy, 2026 WL 986311 (N.D. Cal. Apr. 13, 2026), tried just that, invoking a res ipsa loquitur–type theory to plead “parallel”
As we have discussed more times than we like, the plaintiffs’ class action cabal, in conjunction with their running-dog Valisure “if it doesn’t have it, we’ll cook it until it does” “testing” laboratory, has targeted various products supposedly containing benzene contaminants. The result has been a plethora of no-injury class actions by plaintiffs who
Today’s case, Kouyate v. L. Perrigo Company, 2026 WL 591874 (W.D. Mich. Mar. 3, 2026), is the latest entry in the ever-growing pile of meritless benzene OTC class actions. This time, the target is acne treatments containing benzoyl peroxide (BPO), with the now-familiar allegation that BPO degrades into benzene during storage and shipping. If
We’ve blogged a lot recently about preemption and the dismissal of complaints alleging that certain over the counter products, including acne medications, sunscreens, antiperspirants, expectorants, and shampoos contain benzene. Almost a year ago we blogged about the dismissal of an OTC case involving medicated shampoo that allowed plaintiff leave to amend. Today’s decision, Pineda v. Lake Consumer Products, Inc., 2025 WL 2698991 (E.D. Pa. Sept. 22, 2025), is a mixed bag that addresses plaintiff’s amended complaint. It’s about coal-tar shampoos, which are known to include benzene and are subject to an FDA monograph that recognizes the naturally occurring presence of benzene in coal tar. Yet, shockingly, plaintiff filed a class action claiming she would not have purchased the shampoos had she known they contained benzene.
Continue Reading OTC Preemption Letdown in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Not too long ago, we tried to extrapolate from a doctoral thesis on quantum dots to lessons for litigation. That “[q]uantum dots are between one-billionth of a meter and one-hundred-millionth of a meter in size” emphasized that “appreciating the scope and scale of what is being discussed can be critical.” In the spate of litigation
“To be clear, while an association between acetaminophen and autism has been described in many studies, a causal relationship has not been established . . . .” That is not your DDL bloggers speaking (although we did add the emphasis). It is not a drug manufacturer speaking, nor any particular doctor or researcher speaking. It
Plaintiffs (or more properly, their lawyers) across the country have been filing no-injury class actions against over-the-counter (“OTC”) drug manufacturers on a variety of cooked-up theories that have little or nothing to do with the safety or efficacy of these drugs. One such theory, that we have discussed several times, is that drugs that the FDA allows to be labeled as “rapid release” should be penalized, under state law, for using that purportedly “misleading” description. This litigation is based on one study, done years ago, that found that some “rapid release” products did not dissolve any more quickly (or less so) than other products not bearing that designation.
Continue Reading “Rapid Release” Class Action Dissolved
A federal judge in California filed an important OTC preemption decision earlier this month, and it’s important because it applied federal preemption to shut down (for now) one of the many recent benzene-related consumer class actions. The case is Daugherty v. Padagis US LLC, No. 24-cv-02066, 2025 WL 2243622 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 6, 2025)
Every week Bexis circulates an email with new, bloggable cases, but sometimes there are more new decisions than blogging days, and cases get passed over.
Here are three (relatively) recent examples
Gonzalez v. International Medical Devices, Inc., ___ F. Supp.3d ___, 2025 WL 2054361 (W.D. Tex. June 20, 2025), arose from the plaintiff’s apparent
Admittedly, we sometimes feel like a broken record playing the same song over and over. But doesn’t everyone have that favorite album that they can put on a loop and never get tired of? (Prince’s Purple Rain; The Beatles 1967-1970; Elton John’s Two Rooms). For the DDL blog, that album would be