Elmers Products, the manufacturers of Instant Krazy Glue, are facing a consumer product liability lawsuit in federal court in Detroit, Michigan. The two plaintiffs argue that they were mislead by the company's ads and promotions into thinking that the product was good for bonding wood.
They refer to an ad purporting to show a man in a hardhat with the hat stuck with the product to a wooden beam in midair. The lawsuit argues that this is false advertising and the plaintiffs seek certification of the claim as a class action.
The product costs approximately $4 in retail stores, and the lawsuit seeks to have the company refund the purchase price to anyone who bought it under the mistaken belief that it would bond wood. One of the plaintiffs says that she bought the glue for the purpose of attaching a number of handles to a pantry door made of wood. She asserts that the front of the product's packaging stated that it was "good for metal and wood," but that small print on the back of the packaging said "not for wood." The handles quickly fell off, she claims.
In court filings, the company denied doing anything to deceive consumers, and noted that the packaging at issue was changed almost three years ago, with the words wood and leather deleted from it altogether. The plaintiffs claim that their bought their packages of Instant Krazy Glue in 2012, and argue that there may still be many containers of the products on store shelves in the old packaging.
The company will undoubtedly fight the certification of the lawsuit as a class action. Such certification is only granted based on a showing that there were a large number of people who experienced the same alleged harm from a product, as opposed to the named plaintiffs' complaints stemming from isolated incidents. Businesses facing such lawsuits need to quickly retain an experienced business litigation lawyer to make sure that all avenues of defense are thoroughly explored.
Source: Detroit Free Press, "Metro Detroiters suing Elmers for promoting Krazy Glue as good for wood" Tresa Baldas, Jul. 29, 2013
