SoClean Devices Use Ozone to Clean CPAP Machines Mississippi Class Action

Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines are used to treat sleep apnea. SoClean, Inc. makes machines to clean CPAP machines, including its SoClean 2 CPAP Sanitizing Machine, the SoClean 2 Go CPAP Sanitizing Machine, and their predecessors. The complaint for this class action brings suit against SoClean, alleging the company fails to warn consumers that it uses ozone for the cleaning and that it makes claims that are misleading in light of its use of ozone.

The class for this action is all persons who were or are citizens of Mississippi who bought or used a SoClean device to clean and sanitize their CPAP, BiPAP, or mechanical ventilation machine.

The machines use ozone, which the complaint calls “an unstable toxic gas,” to sterilize and deodorize the machines. The complaint claims, “To be effective as a germicide, ozone must be present in a concentration far greater than can be safely tolerated by people or animals.”

According to the complaint, if a machine uses ozone, that must be disclosed in its marketing materials. SoClean does not disclose this, the complaint claims. Instead, it claims, the company says the machines use “activated oxygen,” and that the devices are “safe” and “healthy.”

The complaint alleges, “SoClean falsely represents that its devices use ‘no water or chemicals’ or ‘no harsh chemicals’ to clean CPAP machines, despite using ozone gas—a harsh chemical that causes respiratory problems in humans.”

SoClean, the complaint alleges, claims it devices use the same process as is used in “hospital sanitizing,” but the complaint says “hospitals cannot and do not use ozone sanitizers in spaces occupied by patients.”

The company also sells filters, which it claims change “activated oxygen” into “regular oxygen,” but the complaint claims the filters “have no measurable effect on the device’s ozone output.”

In fact, the complaint alleges, “SoClean devices are so dangerous and destructive that several of the largest manufacturers of CPAP machines in the United States require purchasers to acknowledge that they have been informed that if the purchaser uses a SoClean device to clean their CPAP machine, the warranty of their CPAP machine will be voided.”

The complaint quotes postings at the Food and Drug Administration’s Maude database and other sites which report consumer problems with the use of the SoClean devices. The postings report asthma attacks, difficulty breathing, and chest pains, along with other problems, after the use of SoClean devices for CPAP cleaning.

The claims for relief include breaches of warranties, fraudulent misrepresentation, fraud by omission, and failure to warn, among other things.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Consumer
Tags: Deceptive Advertising, Deceptive Labels, Fraudulent Misrepresentation, Made or Constructed with Harmful Chemicals