Last week, Rushing McCarl LLP filed a first-in-the-nation putative class action complaint against the makers of the popular Stanley tumbler cups for the company’s failure to disclose that its products contain lead. The lawsuit was filed for four California women of childbearing age who hope to represent a class of California consumers. The complaint alleges that Pacific Market International, LLC (“PMI”), the company behind the Stanley brand, concealed its use of lead in its drinkware. Rushing McCarl’s lawsuit has been covered in national media outlets, including Reuters, Law360, The Daily Journal, and ClassAction.org. Rushing McCarl has begun collecting information from other consumers interested in joining the fight.
Stanley’s tumbler cups have achieved massive popularity in recent years, thanks in large part to PMI’s influencer-led marketing campaigns targeting young women and mothers. In January 2024, news broke that Stanley’s products contained previously undisclosed lead. The company then admitted that, if damaged, Stanley cups can expose consumers to the dangerous toxin.
Rushing McCarl’s complaint alleges that PMI deliberately concealed its use of lead from customers despite knowing that customers could be exposed to the toxin if the cups were damaged. Rather than disclosing that information to consumers, PMI hid the truth because full disclosure would have affected the purchasing decisions of safety-conscious consumers in PMI’s target markets.
The lawsuit aims to include all California consumers who bought a Stanley cup without knowing it contained lead. The named plaintiffs are four California women, all targeted by Stanley’s influencer-led marketing campaigns, who brought Stanley cups into their homes without knowing about the potential danger.
A copy of the complaint can be found at https://bit.ly/stanleylawsuit. The case is Brown v. Pacific Market Int’l, LLC (L.A. Superior Court, filed Feb. 1, 2023).