Paparazzi Jewelry Not “Lead & Nickel Free” Class Action

Paparazzi, LLC is a multi-level marketing (MLM) business that sells jewelry and accessories. Advertising for the company appears to have claimed that the products are free of nickel and lead. But the complaint alleges that in fact the products “do in fact contain significant amounts of lead and nickel.

The Nationwide Class for this action is all persons who bought any of Paparazzi’s products in the US, for personal use and not for resale, during the fullest period allowed by law. A North Carolina Subclass has also been defined for those in the above class who bought the jewelry in North Carolina.

Pages 2 and 3 of the complaint show a number of small ads for Paparazzi jewelry that all, in one form or another, make the claim that Paparazzi jewelry is “Nickel & Lead Free.” Sample claims include, “All Paparazzi Jewelry is Nickel & Lead Free,” “All items are Lead & Nickel Free,” and “3 Facts About Paparazzi Accessories. Lead-free and nickel-free…”

The claims are made on its website and repeated by its “consultants,” or salespeople, on their social-media accounts and websites, and during in-person sales sessions. The complaint alleges that “consultants’ repeated use of Paparazzi’s lead and nickel free claim was a result of the brand identity created by Paparazzi, as well as its direction and encouragement to employ the ‘lead and nickel free’ claim.”

According to the complaint, the company’s training materials require that its salespeople repeat Paparazzi-approved marketing claims.

The complaint alleges that the company made these claims “a central part of its marketing message” about its products to give the

But the complaint alleges that these claims are not true: “In stark contrast to Paparazzi’s pervasive marketing of its Products as lead and nickel free, Plaintiffs’ independent testing, as well as test results obtained from other customers, has revealed that Paparazzi’s Products do in fact contain significant amounts of lead and nickel.”

The original testing was done by a group of former Paparazzi consultants by a third-party testing laboratory called Waypoint Analytical, the complaint claims, on ten pieces of jewelry. In January 2022, the complaint alleges, it “confirmed that each piece of Paparazzi jewelry that was tested contained lead and nickel, along with other materials known to be hazardous, including arsenic and cadmium.”

When the results were made public, the complaint says, Paparazzi discontinued its “lead and nickel free” claims and scrubbed them from its website.

According to the complaint, Paparazzi now claims that “some [of its] jewelry may contain trace amounts of lead and nickel” and that “[t]he metals found in Paparazzi jewelry pieces are primarily made of iron and include other trace minerals. Those trace minerals are made up of a metallic alloy of either zinc, steel, or aluminum.”

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Consumer
Tags: Breach of warranty, Deceptive Advertising, Deceptive Labels, Negligent Misrepresentation