The Children’s Place Calls for Lawyer Sanctions in ‘Reckless’ PFAS Lawsuit
Two months after being named the defendant in a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of a Chicago mother, The Children’s Place has asked a federal judge to sanction lawyers involved in the “reckless” suit. The proposed class-action lawsuit claimed that school uniforms sold by the children’s apparel retailer contained per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), the long-lasting chemicals that linger in the environment and are linked to adverse health effects.
The request, filed last week in United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, said that attorneys from the law firms Aylstock Witkin Kreis & Overholtz and Bradley Grombacher failed to adequately test the uniforms in question for the presence of PFAS before filing their suit. The Children’s Place requested the court to dismiss the case and hold the law firms responsible for paying its attorney fees and expenses.
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The initial lawsuit was filed in July on behalf of Angala Garland, a Chicago mother who claimed The Children’s Place knowingly hid the presence of PFAS in its school uniforms and other products. Her lawsuit said she would not have purchased the uniforms had she known about the PFAS.
Commonly known as “forever chemicals” due to their persistence in the environment and even the human body, PFAS are a class of chemicals compounds used in a variety of products to provide water- and stain-repellency. Some PFAS have been identified as toxic, linking them to cancer and other conditions.
The Children’s Place said Garland purchased at least 21 clothing items from its stores, but only two of those were tested for PFAS. Of those two, one tested negative for PFAS and the second tested positive for trace levels of one PFAS chemical, with the lab flagging the result as unreliable on several bases.
“Defendant subsequently shared its test results for each of the products identified by Plaintiff in the Complaint, and these show that none contained PFAS,” the request said. “Despite sharing these results, Plaintiff has refused to dismiss her Complaint.”
Lawsuits related to the use of PFAS have become more common across industries as consumers become more aware of the chemicals and their potential impact. Last year, REI was hit with a $5 million class action suit filed in Washington State on behalf of around 100 plaintiffs who claimed they were duped when they purchased jackets from the retailer.
Earlier this year, America’s largest denim manufacturer and supplier, Mount Vernon Mills, announced it would stop using PFAS after a lawsuit claimed the mill discharges roughly 3.2 million gallons of PFAS and chemical-contaminated water daily into the municipal treatment plant in Trion, Georgia, where the facility is based.
No ruling has been made in The Children’s Place case, but Aylstock Witkin Kreis & Overholtz attorney Samuel Geisler told Reuters that the sanctions motion was a “frivolous strong-arm tactic” designed to convince his client to dismiss her claim.
The case comes as the apparel company laid off more than 180 workers in a focus on digital retail. The Children’s Place also recalled nearly 100,000 baby and toddler jeans this summer.
