The Driver:

On July 14, Johnson & Johnson announced it voluntarily recalled five product lines, all aerosol spray sunscreens under the Aveeno and Neutrogena brands, citing internal testing that identified low levels of benzene, a known carcinogen, in some samples.

As Law.com's Amanda Bronstad reported this week, at least nine consumer lawsuits have been filed against Johnson & Johnson and other sunscreen manufacturers, including the makers of the popular Banana Boat product.

There is also, as Law.com's Michael A. Mora reported last month, consumer class action litigation against Energizer Holdings Inc. and Edgewell Personal Care and its subsidiaries, which sell the Banana Boat brand of sunscreens.

Meanwhile, personal injury firms around the country this week began soliciting for potential clients who believe their cancer is linked to their sunscreen use.

I'm interested to hear from you: Is your firm considering filing product liability claims based on these sunscreen recalls? If you're on the defense side, do you anticipate product liability claims? Let me know at [email protected].

The Buzz:

"It's a good step for J&J to make that acknowledgment and recall products they currently tested, but it doesn't cover the waterfront," said R. Jason Richards, of Aylstock, Witkin, Kreis & Overholtz in Pensacola, Florida. "This will continue to happen. As long as J&J set the tone by acknowledging their products contained benzene, I'd imagine the other manufacturers, to the extent their products contain benzene, will follow suit, and more manufacturers will be recalling their products, as well should."

On July 15, CVS Health announced it had pulled two of its own sun care products containing aloe vera—CVS Health After Sun Aloe Vera and CVS Health After Sun Aloe Vera Spray—from store shelves, citing "an abundance of caution" following the Johnson & Johnson recall.

The announcements came more than two months after independent pharmacy Valisure LLC found high levels of benzene, a known carcinogen in humans, in 78 sunscreen and related products. At least six lawsuits were filed after the May 25 findings, which Valisure raised before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in a citizen petition asking for a recall.

"While benzene is not an ingredient in any of our sunscreen products, it was detected in some samples of the impacted aerosol sunscreen finished products," Johnson & Johnson said in its recall announcement. "We are investigating the cause of this issue, which is limited to certain aerosol sunscreen products."

Richards, who filed some of the first cases, said the recall is a good thing for class members because it's an admission.

"They've essentially validated Valisure's findings—they've admitted there is benzene in some of their products," he said. "The bad thing is Neutrogena's recall is limited to five products, and that's not representative of all the findings Valisure found. It doesn't cover all the products that Valisure found contained benzene."

He predicted more recalls and more litigation to come.

At least three other lawsuits were filed after last week's announcement, alleging that Johnson & Johnson waited too long to recall products it knew were unsafe.

Alexandra Walsh, of Walsh Law in Washington D.C., who filed a case July 14 along with Keller Lenkner and Beasley Allen, told Bronstad that the suit also involves consumers who used Aveeno, which Valisure did not identify in its findings.

She also said Johnson & Johnson continues to sell products that Valisure's findings identified as having benzene, such as its Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch Water Resistant sunscreen, a non-aerosol spray product made by Neutrogena.

Two other cases filed July 15 in New York and New Jersey make similar allegations. One also names Costco, which sold one of the recalled products to the plaintiff. Cases also are pending in Florida, Missouri and California.

Most recently, on July 21, in a lawsuit first surfaced by Law.com Radar, Carlson Lynch; Freed, Kanner, London & Millen; and Kohn, Swift & Graf filed a consumer class action in New Jersey District Court against Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc.

>> So far, cases stemming from these recalls have not alleged physical injuries, but it seems it's only a matter of time before those suits begin to materialize.

Richards indicated to Law.com's Mora in June that he might follow up on these class actions by representing consumers who suffered personal injuries, such as having a Leukemia diagnosis, due to their use of these allegedly toxic sunscreen products.

Indeed, a number of personal injury law firms have posted to their websites over the past week encouraging potential products liability plaintiffs to reach out if they believe they developed cancer as a result of using sunscreen.

National plaintiffs firms Morgan & Morgan now has a quiz on its website that consumers can take to determine whether they might be eligible for a sunscreen personal injury suit.

On July 19, Houston-based Arnold & Itkin posted a message urging anyone who "suspects that use of aerosol sunscreen exposed them to benzene" to "speak with us as soon as possible."

And on July 20, Chicago-based Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard made a similar post to its blog, urging potential plaintiffs to reach out and explaining that they may have a claim if they've been diagnosed with a blood cancer; can prove they used the sunscreen products in question; have had significant exposure and are not smokers.

"There will be litigation that comes out of this where people are seeking personal injury damages," Richards told Mora last month. "You shouldn't be putting yourself in a position where you think you are protecting yourself from the sun, but actually applying sunscreen that itself causes cancer. That's not a fair deal."