Allison Willett secured a momentous victory for our client against Pixi, Inc., when the Court overruled Pixi’s Demurrer in its entirety and denied Pixi’s Request for Judicial Notice as to each exhibit. Pixi’s demurrer maintained the federal district court’s decision in Wilson v. Colourpop (Wilson v. ColourPop Cosms., LLC (N.D. Cal Sept. 7, 2023 No. 22-CV-05198-TLT) should govern and that the Court should find all causes of action were preempted by federal law and a lack of standing. But as Allison Willett concluded during the hearing, “Whether the sale of these products violates the FDCA is not the question. The question is whether or not the basis for the causes of action is an FDCA violation, which they are not.”
In a deliberate and well-reasoned opinion, Judge Lee did not find preemption and maintained Plaintiff to have standing. Siding with our client, the Court overruled Pixi’s demurrer in its entirety. The court specified: “In Colourpop, the federal district court held that a plaintiff is prohibited from using state unfair competition laws as a vehicle to bring a private cause of action that is based on violations of the FDCA.” (Wilson v. ColourPop Cosms., LLC (N.D. Cal. April 13, 2023) No. 22-CV-05198-TLT, 2023 WL 6787986 at *5 (cleaned up).) However, the court acknowledge that while “a plaintiff may not ground his claims on violations of the FDCA but can assert other federal or state law claims independently actionable without reliance on the FDCA.” (Ibid.).”
The firm is thrilled with the ruling allowing plaintiffs to move forward and seek class certification for other consumers who have been harmed. Allison Willett leads the litigation on behalf of our client.
Missimer et al. v. Pixi, Inc., Case No.: STK-CV-UF-2023-0006497, Superior Court of California, County of San Joaquin