April 20, 2014 — Lumber Liquidators has been hit with a federal lawsuit in California accusing them of selling at-home testing kits that are not evaluated by an “independent” lab with accreditation for formaldehyde.
The lawsuit was filed last week in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The plaintiffs include Craig Lyznick, Shari Collins, and Patricia Cottington, who all received a free home-testing kit from Lumber Liquidators.
They claim the laboratory that analyzes the kits routinely shares the results of the test with Lumber Liquidators and has other conflicts of interest. Furthermore, the lab is only accredited to analyze microorganisms — not formaldehyde.
According to the complaint (PDF):
“In short, Lumber Liquidators has hired a mold lab to conduct formaldehyde gas emissions testing and is trying to deceive its customers into a false sense of security with the accreditation and proficiency of its chosen lab.”
One attorney for plaintiffs who spoke with the New York Times said, “The analogy is you have cancer, well, we’re going to set you up with a doctor, but they don’t tell you the doctor’s a chiropractor.”
Lumber Liquidators said the lawsuit was “entirely without merit” and the labs they hired have all proper accreditation.
About 10,000 of the home-testing kits have already been provided to customers. However, they are not comprehensive because they only test formaldehyde levels in the air four feet above the floors — not in the flooring itself. Another problem is that children and pets are exposed much close to the floors than four feet.
The Schmidt Firm, PLLC has been recognized as one of the nation’s leading plaintiffs' law firms and handles cases in all 50 states. We are very proud of our legal achievements, but equally self-respecting of our firm's reputation for providing personal attention to each and every client we represent.
