In RE: Hair Relaxer Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation
A mediator takes a closer look at some pending issues in this mass tort case.
November 12, 2024 at 05:02 PM
6 minute read
In August, Judge Mary M. Rowland dismissed nearly 200 plaintiffs’ cases in the ongoing In RE: Hair Relaxer Marketing, Sales Practices, And Products Liability Litigation [Hair Relaxer], a multidistrict litigation (MDL) that is pending in the Northern District Court of Illinois, giving the plaintiffs a year to refile their claims.
This mass tort MDL is only one of many that are currently being litigated throughout the country. Others include Camp Lejeune litigation, Firefighting Foam (AFFF) litigation, Philips CPAP machine recall litigation, and Exactech knee and ankle recall litigation. As a mediator, trial lawyer and complex litigation specialist who has represented clients in product liability cases, class actions, and mass tort cases, I’d like to take a closer look at some of the issues in these hair relaxer case.
|
The Background
The Hair Relaxer litigation is a relatively new MDR mass tort case. In October 2022, a groundbreaking new study was published which found that regular use of hair relaxer (a product used by millions of Black women in the U.S.) increases the risk of uterine cancer. This immediately sparked a wave of hair relaxer cancer lawsuits that were consolidated into a mass tort MDL now pending in the Northern District of Illinois. Defendants include L’Oreal (for products including Dark & Lovely and Ultra Sheen), Namaste LLC (ORS Olive Oil Hair Relaxer), TCB Naturals/Godrej Consumer Products (Just for Me) and Strength of Nature Global, LLC (Motions).
|
Dismissal of Some Plaintiffs/The Addition of More Plaintiffs
Millions of African American women in the U.S. use hair relaxers on a regular basis. The use of these products often starts during childhood and continues throughout their entire adult lives, which makes the size of the potential plaintiff field in this case very large. In 2023, the Hair Relaxer MDL was the
fastest-growing mass tort in the country. The MDL started the year with less than 150 pending cases and ended 2023 with over 9,000 pending cases; currently there are about 8,600 cases.
Judge Rowland dismissed nearly 200 plaintiffs’ cases for failing to either submit fact sheets or supplement deficient and incomplete fact sheets. The cases were dismissed without prejudice and plaintiffs were given until June 25, 2025, to refile. If the dismissed plaintiffs do not refile within this timeframe, those cases will be dismissed with prejudice, prohibiting the Plaintiffs from proceeding.
Plaintiffs face myriad challenges when addressing mass tort cases, and the challenges can vary depending on the type of mass tort claim. One challenge many plaintiffs are confronted with is client selection. When a mass tort is in its infancy, it may be difficult to determine what claims will survive a defendant’s effort to sever the causal link between its product and a plaintiff’s alleged injuries. Failing to fill out the proper documentation, such as with the fact sheets in this case, can lead to the dismissal of those claims.
It’s likely that the number of plaintiffs in this case will continue to grow as more women assert that they have developed cancer as a result of hair relaxer use. As of the time of this writing, hair relaxer cases include women who have used hair relaxer at least five times a year and have been diagnosed with uterine cancer, endometrial cancer, and ovarian cancer, as well as women who had had fibroids and have had to have a hysterectomy as a result.
|
Compensation of Lead Counsel
How lead counsel will be compensated is another pending issue in this case. In August, Judge Rowland entered an order that approved a common benefit assessment of 8% in fees and 3% costs but noted that lawyers representing clients in state court cases would be excluded from the assessment, stating
that the court’s jurisdiction didn’t extend to cases that were not pending in federal court.
Work performed in the MDL may benefit plaintiffs who are not included in the MDL, and lead counsel has filed a motion to reconsider Judge Rowland’s order, arguing that although Judge Rowland may not have jurisdiction over the state court cases, the court does have jurisdiction over the lawyers appearing before her in the MDL—who may also represent clients in state court cases. Lead counsel’s motion argues that failing to apply a common benefit holdback order to the cases MDL counsel has outside of the MDL would “work a substantial injustice and undermine the effectiveness of the MDL process” and incentivize attorneys to keep cases outside of the MDL, which would make MDLs less effective as way of managing mass litigation.
|
Pending Discovery Issues
As in other mass tort cases, discovery in the Hair Relaxer case has been defendant focused. Plaintiff oriented discovery will likely be reduced to fact sheets and other truncated discovery procedures. There has been an ongoing delay in discovery involving Revlon. Revlon has not been named as a defendant in the lawsuit because it declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy before the filing of the Hair Relaxer case.
Plaintiffs have filed a claim with the bankruptcy court, asking the bankruptcy court to account for damages when Revlon is reorganized. Revlon is, however, subject to discovery requests, and according to the plaintiffs, Revlon has failed to comply with discovery requests it provided the company in December 2023. Revlon has claimed that it needed to review 900,000 pages of documents before it can respond to plaintiffs and was given a deadline by the court to produce the documents by August 9, 2024. While Revlon has provided some documents, plaintiffs are claiming that it has not fully responded to its requests and have asked the judge to set a timeline for Revlon to fully comply with all discovery requests to avoid slowing down the litigation process or potential settlements.
|
My Advice for Counsel
The ongoing Hair Relaxer case presents a myriad of issues, but my advice for both plaintiffs’ lawyers and defense lawyers is the same—communicate with opposing counsel often and early. The complexity of mass tort cases requires lawyers, whether they represent a defendant or plaintiffs, to prepare for extended and time-consuming litigation. The litigation can, and often will be unnecessarily protracted if the parties don’t understand one another. Counselors should consider scheduling regular “check-ins” with each other to discuss the progress of the litigation, their clients’ goals, their expectations, and if possible, to simply get to know the lawyers they will likely be working with for a long time.
M.J. Blakely is an attorney in private practice and a mediator at Miles Mediation & Arbitration in Atlanta.
Interested in writing? Daily Report is seeking to boost its guest-written commentaries and invites readers to submit commentaries and ideas. Also invited for submission are letters to the editor, guest photos, awards and event and business news releases, as well as ideas on topics for coverage across the spectrum of the legal landscape. Contact [email protected] for more information.
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllSecond Circuit Ruling Expands VPPA Scope: What Organizations Need to Know
6 minute readTrending Stories
- 1Gordon Rees Opens 80th Office, ‘Collaboration Hub’ in Palo Alto
- 2The White Stripes Drop Copyright Claim Against Trump Campaign
- 3Law Firm Accused of Barratry for Allegedly Soliciting Crash Victims
- 4Carlton Fields Downsizes in Move to New Atlanta Office
- 5Trump's Selection of Zeldin to Head EPA Draws Surprise, Little Hope of Avoiding Deregulation
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250