Phoenix, Arizona - In a continuation of his ongoing effort to protect consumers from unfair class action settlements, Attorney General Mark Brnovich this week led a bipartisan coalition of twelve state Attorneys General in urging a New Hampshire federal court to reject a proposed class action settlement against Dial Corporation that would send 60% of the settlement cash to attorneys instead of consumers.
The $7.4 million settlement stems from a class action alleging that the Dial Corporation made false and deceptive claims about Dial Complete Liquid Hand Soap’s effectiveness. The proposed settlement divides the $7.4 million monetary relief unfairly, giving consumers only $2.3 million of the available cash and attorneys $4.4 million. This settlement bases this imbalanced division on Dial’s promise to stop including the ingredient, triclosan, in its soap. However, this promise is essentially worthless — Dial stopped using that ingredient years ago and is legally barred from doing so in the future by an FDA ruling.
General Brnovich asks the Court to recognize the settlement as fatally imbalanced and send the parties back to negotiate a proper division of the settlement proceeds, ensuring that class members receive the appropriate percentage of what is already on the table.
“Protecting consumers in the class action settlement process continues to be our top priority for our office," said Attorney General Mark Brnovich. "We are looking to obtain meaningful relief for consumers, including improved settlement terms that provide consumers with the majority of the available cash.”
The brief was filed in In Re: Dial Complete Marketing and Sales Litigation, No. 11-md-2263 (D. N.H.) as a “friend of the court” under the Attorney General’s statutory authority to speak on behalf of Arizona consumers in connection with federal class action settlements.
Joining Arizona are Attorneys General from Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Michigan, Missouri, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Texas.