A man loads a washing machine at a Laundromat. Picture taken on April 16, 2020. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

(Reuters) - Consumers accusing Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc of falsely claiming that its Woolite laundry detergent can "renew" or "revive" colors can bring their claims as a class action, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman in San Jose, California ruled Friday that the thousands of consumers' claims involved the same legal issues, rejecting the British consumer goods giant's argument that how each consumer interpreted the product's labeling varied too much among individuals.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs and for the company did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

California resident Steven Prescott sued Reckitt's U.S. arm in 2020, saying the company deceived consumers by selling Woolite detergent, beginning in 2017, with the label "Color Renew," and a claim that it "revives colors," violating state consumer protection law.

In fact, he said, testing showed that the detergent did not revive colors, and that colors actually continued to fade with repeated washes. He sought to recover damages representing the "premium" they paid as a result of the claim.

The lawsuit was subsequently amended to add plaintiffs in New York and Massachusetts, and the plaintiffs asked Freeman to certify a class under the law of each state.

Reckitt, opposing that motion, noted that only 55% of the Woolite bottles at issue said "Color Renew" on the front, while the remaining bottles only said "renews colors" on the back. It said the plaintiffs hadn't shown that consumers looked at the back, and that each consumer would have interpreted the label differently.

Freeman, however, ruled that, even if only the "Color Renew" bottles were included, the class would number in the thousands. She further found that the question under the relevant state laws was not how each consumer interpreted the labels, but how a reasonable consumer would interpret them.

The case is Prescott v. Reckitt Benckiser LLC, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 5:20-cv-02101.

For plaintiffs: Theodore Leopold of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll

For Reckitt: Sascha Henry of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Brendan Pierson reports on product liability litigation and on all areas of health care law. He can be reached at brendan.pierson@thomsonreuters.com.

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