Weeks v. Home Depot U.S.A., Inc.

Reference :

2:19-cv-06780

Complaint date :

August 5, 2019

Status :

Not judged

Place of jurisdiction :

United States, Central District of California

Plaintiffs types :

Individuals

Plaintiffs names :

James Weeks

Defendants :

Home Depot

Lawyers for Health and Environmental Justice :

Gillian L. Wade, Sara D. Avila, Marc A. Castaneda

Case nature :

Civil court

Specificities :

Class action, Jury

Type(s), Product(s), Active substance(s) :

Herbicide, Glyphosate, Roundup

Requests :

An order certifying that the action may be maintained as a Class Act; An order enjoining Defendant from pursuing the policies, acts, and practices complained of herein and requiring Defendants to pay restitution to Plaintiffs and all members of the Class; Reasonable attorneys' fees; Costs of this suit. Trial by jury.

Name of the Court :

District Court of Central District of California, United States

Jurisdiction level :

Summary :

The complaint is about the lack of warnings on containers of Roundup and its formulations with regard to the health risks associated with using the herbicide. The only warning on Roundup’s label states, “keep out of reach of children,” and identifies that the product may cause “moderate eye irritation” while it is probably carcinogenic. Reasonable consumers would not have bought Roundup had they known its use came with carcinogenic risks. For the same reasons, plaintif filed another class action against Lowe’s Home Centers (2:19-cv-6828). On Dec. 13, 2019, Home Depot files a motion to toss the class action, but it is rejected by the judge on Jan. 21, 2020.

Scientific references :

IARC Working Group on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans. Some Organophosphate Insecticides and Herbicides. Lyon (FR): International Agency for Research on Cancer; 2017. PMID: 31829533.