A federal judge has ruled that three lawsuits related to the presence of lead in Stanley tumblers can be consolidated into one case, and denied a motion from the drinkware maker’s parent company to dismiss two of the complaints.
In a ruling dated April 26, U.S. District Judge Tana Lin stated that proposed class action suits filed by consumers Laura Barbu of New York and Robin Krohn of California can be consolidated with an earlier proposed class action complaint from Nevada resident Mariana Franzetti.
“Given the substantial overlap between these matters, consolidation will promote judicial economy and expedite resolution of the cases by simplifying discovery, pretrial motions and other case management issues, and it will reduce the risk of inconsistent results,” Lin determined.
The proposed class action suits were filed after it was revealed earlier this year that Stanley tumblers contain lead. The suing consumers say they would not have bought the drinkware if they had known about the lead, and that Stanley’s parent firm should be held accountable for failing to alert the public to the presence of the element. The plaintiffs are seeking monetary damages and other remedies.
Pacific Market International (PMI), Stanley’s parent company, motioned to have the Barbu and Krohn complaints thrown out, but Lin found arguments from the firm’s attorneys to be “unavailing.”
Lin said PMI’s assertion that its discovery burden would be greatly increased if the cases were consolidated instead of dismissed “strains common sense … There is little reason to believe that the discovery burden is meaningfully increased by consolidation.”
Lin also ruled that PMI’s claims that consolidation would encourage “copycat lawsuits” don’t hold water. “Consolidation of these actions and future related actions will deter additional lawsuits, as they would likely be subsumed into the lead action,” she opined.
PMI maintained that case consolidation would make a negotiated resolution harder to achieve. However, Lin said the “court will ultimately appoint lead counsel for the newly consolidated matter, which will help to expedite negotiation and any possible resolution.”
The plaintiffs have 30 days from Lin’s order to file a consolidated class action complaint. PMI will have 30 days to respond to that consolidated complaint following its filing, court records showed.
Product of the Year? It had to be the Stanley Quencher, didn't it? And it is. Really interesting report on the mega impact of this product on the #promoproducts market by @SaraLav_ASI.
2023 Product of the Year: The Stanley Quencher https://t.co/AcS4Yh2vwx
— Chris Ruvo (@ChrisR_ASI) December 21, 2023
After videos started circulating on social media about Stanley lead concerns, PMI said in January that the material it uses to vacuum-insulate tumblers at their base contains some lead, but asserted this poses no health threat.
Some health experts have said there is “practically zero risk” of lead exposure from Stanley tumblers, but the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has noted that using lead in manufacturing creates “a risk of lead exposure for consumers of those products, especially for products intended for use in food consumption.”
Propelled to popularity in significant part by female social media influencers, Stanley tumblers have been popular sellers at retail and in the promotional products industry. ASI Media named the Stanley Quencher the 2023 Product of the Year in the branded-merch market.
