Delcid et al. v. TCP HOT Acquisition LLC & Idelle Labs, Ltd.

A lawsuit was brought against Defendants concerning the marketing and sale of certain Brut® and Sure® spray antiperspirant and deodorant products which are or were marketed by Defendants. The lawsuit alleges that these products were inappropriately marketed because it was not disclosed that certain of Defendants’ Brut® and Sure® spray antiperspirant and deodorant products contained benzene. The lawsuit alleges various harms including but not limited to misrepresentation and improper labeling and was brought on behalf of all consumers who bought the Covered Products. The lawsuit alleges only economic harm as a result of improper marketing and labeling of the Covered Products, and the settlement does not include or release any claims for personal or bodily injury.

Plaintiffs allege that had they known about the presence of benzene in the Covered Products, they would not have paid the same price and/or made the purchase. The complaint seeks to recover, on behalf of all natural persons (other than re-sellers) monetary damages, including the amount paid to purchase the Covered Products, and equitable relief.

Defendants deny all claims and allegations made in the Litigation and any wrongdoing whatsoever. By agreeing to the settlement, neither Defendants nor Settlement Class Representatives make any admissions regarding the merits of the allegations, claims, or defenses in this case. Defendants are settling the Litigation to avoid the expense, inconvenience, risk, and disruption of the litigation.

The settlement provides both injunctive and monetary relief.

Monetary Relief: Defendants will pay $3.65 million to the Settlement Fund. If approved by the Court, funds from the Settlement Fund will be distributed to eligible Settlement Class Members.

Injunctive Relief: Defendants have agreed to employ commercially reasonable best practices to ensure that the Covered Products comply with federal standards and regulations relating to the presence of Benzene for at least 18 months following the date of Preliminary Approval. Such practices will include screening for benzene and addressing any detectable benzene as warranted. 
 

If you timely file a claim that complies with the instructions on the claim form and in the notice, you will receive an amount of the Settlement Fund, calculated on:

• your purchase price of the Covered Product(s) with a proof of purchase.
• If a class member does not provide proof of purchase, the purchase price of the Covered Product(s) will be determined by the average retail price for up to five (5) Covered Products claimed per household plus a 10% allowance for sales tax.

Defendants issued a voluntary recall of the Covered Products in February 2022, in which Defendants offered a full refund, set at the average price of the Covered Product, for up to three (3) Covered Products without providing Proof of Purchase, or all products for which Proof of Purchase was provided. Those who submitted valid recall documentation are automatically considered Settlement Class Members with valid claim forms. Class members who received a refund through Defendants’ voluntary recall of the Covered Products should also submit a settlement claim form as they may be entitled to additional relief from the settlement. For those class members who received a refund through Defendants’ voluntary recall of the Covered Products and submit a settlement claim form, the amount of money they receive in the settlement will be reduced by the amount refunded through the voluntary recall.

In order to reach the total amount available from the Settlement Fund, the amount paid to each class member may increase or decrease pro rata based on the total number of Covered Products purchased by Settlement Class Members submitting valid Claim Forms, each class member’s purchase price of the Covered Product(s), and the number of claimants who have already recovered for their purchase of the Covered Product(s) during the voluntary recall.

“Proof of Purchase” means an itemized retail sales receipt or retail store club or loyalty card record showing, at a minimum, the purchase of a Covered Products, the purchase price, and the date and place of the purchase.

Claims will be paid only if deemed valid and only after the Court approves the settlement.

To make a claim, you must fill out the claim form available on this settlement website at the Submit Claim page. You can submit the claim form online, or you can print it and mail it to the claim administrator at: Sure and Brut Claim Administrator, 1650 Arch Street, Suite 2210, Philadelphia, PA 19103. Claim forms must be submitted online, or if mailed must be postmarked, by January 12, 2023. Cash payments from the Settlement Fund will be made if the Court gives final approval to the proposed settlement and after the final approval is no longer subject to appeal. If the Court does not approve the settlement, if the settlement is overturned on appeal, or if the settlement is terminated, no cash payments will be made pursuant to the settlement.

To date, Plaintiffs’ lawyers have not been compensated for any of their work on this case. As part of the settlement, Plaintiffs’ lawyers intend to ask the Court to award them a portion (approximately 1/3 or $1,216,666.00) of the Settlement Fund to pay their attorneys’ fees and for reimbursement of costs and expenses incurred in relation to investigating the facts, litigating the case, and negotiating the settlement. Plaintiffs’ lawyers will present evidence to the Court on the time that they have spent litigating this case. In addition, Plaintiffs’ lawyers will present evidence that they have paid out-of-pocket expenses in the amount of approximately $12,348.00. Plaintiffs’ lawyers also intend to ask the Court to award a portion of the Settlement Fund to pay settlement administration costs estimated to be approximately $200,000.00.

In addition, each named Plaintiff in this case may apply to the Court for a class representative payment from the Settlement Fund of up to $500.00. This payment is designed to compensate the named Plaintiffs for the time and effort, they undertook in pursuing this litigation.

The settlement releases Defendants and the other Released Parties from any and all claims for economic injury relating to the presence of benzene in the Covered Products, whether arising under state or federal law, that arise directly or indirectly out of, or in any way relate to: (i) the allegations, claims, or contentions for economic injury that were, or could have been, asserted in the Litigation, including but not limited to allegations, claims, or contentions related in any way to the testing, marketing, sales, and advertising with respect to the presence of benzene in the Covered Products; and (ii) any alleged acts, omissions, or misrepresentations related in any way to economic harm resulting from the presence of benzene in the Covered Products. The settlement also releases any unknown claims solely for economic injury relating to the presence of benzene in the Covered Products, expressly waiving any benefits of California Civil Code Section 1542.

The settlement does not release any claims for personal or bodily injury.

The foregoing is only a summary of the released claims. For the terms of the release, please refer to Section 8 of the Settlement Agreement, which can be found at the Important Documents page.

You can exclude yourself from the Settlement Class and Litigation if you wish to retain the right to sue Defendants separately for the claims released by the settlement. If you exclude yourself, you cannot file a claim or object to the settlement.

To exclude yourself, you must complete and submit the online form at the Opt-Out page or mail a request to exclude yourself from the settlement to the claim administrator at Sure and Brut Settlement, Attn: Exclusion Request, PO Box 58220, Philadelphia, PA 19102. If mailed, the exclusion request must contain your name, address, words to the effect of “I wish to be excluded from the Delcid et al. v. TCP HOT Acquisition LLC & Idelle Labs, Ltd. Class Action,” and your signature.

If submitted online, exclusion requests must be made by January 12, 2023. If mailed, exclusion requests must be postmarked by January 12, 2023.

You can ask the Court to deny approval of the settlement, Settlement Class Counsel’s request for attorneys’ fees and litigation expenses, and/or request for incentive awards to class representative plaintiffs by timely submitting an objection to the Clerk of Court. If the Court denies approval to the entire settlement, no settlement payments will be sent out and the lawsuit will continue. 

You may also appear at the Final Approval Hearing, either in person or through your own attorney. If you appear through your own attorney, you are responsible for paying that attorney. If you want to raise an objection to the settlement at the Final Approval hearing, you must first submit that objection in writing, by the objection deadline set forth above.

Any objection must include :

• the case name and number Delcid et al. v. TCP HOT Acquisition LLC & Idelle Labs, Ltd, 21-cv-09569-DLC (S.D.N.Y);
• your name, address, and telephone number;
• the name, address, and telephone number of all counsel (if any) who represent you, including any former or current counsel who may be entitled to compensation for any reason if you are successful, and all legal and factual support for the right to such compensation;
• documents or testimony sufficient to establish that you are a member of the Settlement Class;
• a detailed statement of your objection(s), including the grounds for those objection(s);
• a statement as to whether you are requesting the opportunity to appear and be heard at the final approval hearing and the reason(s) for your request to appear;
• the identity of all counsel (if any) who will appear on your behalf at the final approval hearing and all persons (if any) who will be called to testify in support of your objection;
• copies of any papers, briefs, declarations, affidavits, or other documents upon which your objection is based;
• a detailed list of any other objections you or your counsel have submitted to any class action in any state or federal court in the United States in the previous five years (or affirmatively stating that no such prior objection has been made); and
• your signature as objector, in addition to the signature of your attorney, if an attorney is representing you with the objection.

Failure to include this information and documentation may be grounds for overruling, striking, and/or rejecting your objection.

All the information listed above must be electronically filed via the Court’s Electronic Case File system, or delivered to the Clerk of Court by mail, express mail, or personal delivery such that the objection is received by the Clerk of Court (not just postmarked or sent) on or before January 12, 2023. By filing an objection, you consent to the jurisdiction of the Court, including to any order of the Court to produce documents or provide testimony.

The Court will hold a hearing on March 13, 2023 to consider whether to approve the settlement. The hearing will be held in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Courtroom 18B, 500 Pearl Street, New York, NY 10007. The hearing is open to the public. This hearing date may change without further notice to you. Consult this settlement website or the Court docket in this case available through PACER (www.pacer.gov), for updated information on the hearing date and time.

You can inspect many of the court documents connected with this case on this settlement website at the Important Documents page. Other papers filed in this lawsuit are available by accessing the Court docket in this case available through PACER (www.pacer.gov).

You can contact the Claim Administrator by calling 1-877-714-6664 or writing to Brut and Sure Claim Administrator, 1650 Arch Street, Suite 2210, Philadelphia, PA 19103.

You can also obtain additional information by contacting Jason Sultzer at The Sultzer Law Group, P.C. (85 Civic Center Plaza, Suite 200, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601, sultzerj@thesultzerlawgroup.com, (845) 483-7100).