JOHNSON’S BEDTIME BATH PRODUCTS CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT

Johnson & Johnson produces a wide variety of consumer products, some of which run afoul of federal and state consumer protection laws. Plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson allege the company falsely advertised that its baby bedtime products help babies sleep better. At the heart of the class action lawsuit is the use of the term “clinically proven” by Johnson & Johnson.

The consumer products manufacturer has agreed to pay more than $5 million to settle the class action lawsuit. When approved, the baby product class action settlement will close four class action lawsuits filed by parents who demand reimbursement for the premium price paid for the sleeping products. Plaintiffs claim they purchased the baby bedtime products and followed the instructions to administer the baby sleep aid. However, language within the class action lawsuit states the baby sleep aid “did not help their babies sleep any better.”

All four class action lawsuits include legal language that Johnson & Johnson “knew or should have known, at the time it began selling the products, that there are no studies showing that the bedtime products are clinically proven to provide any results and [Johnson & Johnson] has no basis to make the claims about its products.”

The baby product class action settlement also includes legal language that allows Johnson & Johnson to continue using “advertising and marketing language that states that the routine helps babies fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer or similar language regarding the routine, alongside any clinically proven language.

What You Need to Know

The Johnson’s bedtime bath products class action settlement requires Johnson & Johnson to award consumers $3 per product sold. Class members that file claim forms that include copies of receipts are eligible to receive up to $30 in compensation. Class members that want to file an objection to the settlement or opt out of the legal agreement must have performed the actions by December 19, 2016.

Eligible class members include consumers who purchased one of the baby sleep aid products between July 1, 2010 and August 31, 2016. Covered Johnson & Johnson products listed in the agreement and on the class action settlement website www.BabyBedtimeSettlement.com must include language such “clinically proven” to qualify consumers for class member status. The deadline to file a claim form was April 28, 2017, with the final hearing completed on January 18, 2017. Stephanie Leiner v. Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies Inc., Case No. 1:15-cv-05876, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois includes class counsel attorneys from the law firms Shepard, Finkelman, Miller, & Shah LLP and Pomerantz LLP. Lawyers from Carlton Fields Jorden Burt represent the defendant.