Rivera v. S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc.

Rivera v. S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc.

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

RONNIE ABRAMS, United States District Judge:

Plaintiffs Carmen Rivera, Letisha Williams, Lisa Mack, and Rosemary Vavitsas¹ (collectively, "Plaintiffs") bring this putative class action against Defendant S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc. ("S.C. Johnson" or the "Company") asserting violations of the New York General Business Law's prohibition on deceptive marketing. Plaintiffs allege that S.C. Johnson's labeling of its Windex cleaning products as "Non-Toxic" is misleading to consumers because those products contain ingredients that may be harmful to humans, pets, or the environment. The Company has moved to dismiss the action pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim and to dismiss some aspects of Plaintiffs' claims for lack of standing pursuant [*2]  to Fed. R. Civ. P 12(b)(1). For the reasons that follow, Plaintiffs' claims are dismissed for failure to state a claim, although they will be given an opportunity to file an amended complaint that addresses the deficiencies identified below.

BACKGROUND

I. Factual Background

The Court draws the following facts from the First Amended Class Action Complaint, Dkt. 23 ("Complaint"). For purposes of this motion, the Court accepts all of Plaintiffs' well-pled factual allegations as true and draws all reasonable inferences in their favor. See Mantikas v. Kellogg Co., 910 F.3d 633, 636 (2d Cir. 2018).

Plaintiffs are each citizens of New York who purchased one of the following cleaning products in that state in 2019 or 2020: Windex Original Non-Toxic Formula, Windex Vinegar Non-Toxic Formula, and Windex Ammonia-Free Non-Toxic Formula. Compl. ¶¶ 57-60, 63-66. Defendant S.C Johnson is a Wisconsin corporation that "manufactures, distributes, markets, labels, and sells cleaning solutions under its popular 'Windex' brand." Id. ¶¶ 1, 61.

The Company prominently labels a number of its Windex products as consisting of a "Non-Toxic Formula," in particular the following four: "Original Non-Toxic Formula, Vinegar Non-Toxic Formula, Ammonia-Free Non-Toxic Formula and Multi-Surface [*3]  Non-Toxic Formula" (the "Products"). In each case, the label at the top of the bottle reads "NON-TOXIC FORMULA" in capital letters, as depicted here:

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