Clorox customer brings class action over contaminated household cleaners

A customer claims the company knew about a harmful bacterium in its products for months but left it on shelves before a recall.SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — A customer who purchased a Clorox cleaning product filed a putative class action against the company Tuesday after the product was found to contain a dangerous bacterium.On Sept. 3, the Clorox Company, a multinational household cleaning products manufacturer, recalled over 6 million bottles of Mistolin and Lestoil multipurpose cleaners. The recall was prompted by contamination with Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a rod-shaped bacterium that can cause serious infections through inhalation, contact with the eyes or contact with broken skin. The resilient germ also causes ailments like pneumonia, rashes, urinary tract infections and opportunistic infections in people with weakened immunes systems or medical devices such as catheters.The putative class action, filed by Leslie Santana, a citizen of Puerto Rico and Clorox customer in the U.S. District of Northern California, claims Clorox knew the products were contaminated, due to a previous recall in 2022 of 37 million bottles of scented Pine-Sol contaminated with the same bacteria. Clorox agreed to pay a $14.15 million civil penalty after the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued charges that it knowingly failed to immediately report the government.“Pseudomonas aeruginosa is not an obscure risk to Clorox,” Santana says in her 35-page complaint. “Clorox thus knew, from direct and expensive experience, that its scented multisurface cleaners were vulnerable to Pseudomonas aeruginosa contamination; it knew the mechanism by which that contamination arises in fragranced formulations; it knew what testing was required to detect it; and it had promised the federal government that it would do better."The products likely containing the bacteria were manufactured between April 1, 2025, and June 17, 2026, and sold in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands at Walmart, Sam’s Club, Costco, Supermercados Econo, Supermercados Selectos, and other retailers. The bottles sold for between $1.40 to $8.00.Santana says that for 15 months Clorox manufactured, branded, marketed, and sold the cleaning solutions to Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands customers “without any warning that the products could contain a pathogen, and then allowed the products to remain on store shelves for months after it had stopped producing them.”Santana claims Clorox has a duty to disclose the risks of bacteria contaminating its products, especially given its history, and the company’s failure to present a safety hazard causes material harm. Furthermore, she says, the recall doesn’t do enough under the law to remedy the risks the potential class members face.“Absent injunctive relief, she has no way to know whether Clorox has corrected the failures that led to this recall and cannot rely on Clorox’s labeling and marketing,” Santana says in the complaint.The potential class members would include anyone who purchased one of the recalled products in Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands between April 1, 2025, to the present, with possibly hundreds of thousands to millions of class members.Santana’s claims include violations of California’s Unfair Competition Law, California’s False Advertising Law and California’s Consumers Legal Remedies Act, fraudulent concealment, breach of implied warranty against hidden defects and unjust enrichment.Santana seeks a court order forcing Clorox to disclose the risks of bacterial contamination in its household cleaners, implement and maintain a thorough testing and monitoring process for its products and a Spanish language notice of its recalls in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.She also requests restitution and disgorgement of profits for the products Clorox sold during the contamination period and compensatory and punitive damages. She demands a jury trial.An attorney representing Santana did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Clorox representatives did not respond to a request for comment.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads