— A RainBrella glass treatment class action lawsuit alleges manufacturer Rust-Oleum made false and misleading statements when it said RainBrella glass treatment “Lasts 2X Longer” and “Lasts Over 100 Car Washes.”
The RainBrella class action lawsuit includes all consumers who purchased RainBrella in the U.S. between 2016 to the present.
RainBrella glass treatment is designed to repel rain, dirt and mud from automotive glass. RainBrella is sold in a box containing two super-saturated cloth wipes/towels each inside a sealed pouch.
The front of the package says RainBrella “Lasts Over 100 Car Washes” and the product “Lasts 2X Longer*.” The asterisk is associated with this statement on the opposite side of the box:
“RainBrella and its repellent properties last, on average, at least two times longer versus the leading competitor in a wiper blade abrasion test.”
According to the class action, the "leading competitor" refers to Rain-X water repellent manufactured by a company called Illinois Tool Works (ITW).
Previous RainBrella Glass Treatment Lawsuit
In July 2017, ITW filed a lawsuit (Illinois Tool Works, Inc. v. Rust-Oleum Corporation) against Rust-Oleum alleging RainBrella representations were false and misleading.
The lawsuit alleged Rust-Oleum’s claim that RainBrella “Lasts 2X Longer” was false because ITW conducted wiper blade abrasion tests comparing its Rain-X product to RainBrella glass treatment. ITW said the tests showed Rain-X allegedly worked longer than RainBrella, not the other way around.
The Texas glass treatment lawsuit also alleged Rust-Oleum’s representation that RainBrella “Lasts Over 100 Car Washes” was false and misleading.
A six-day jury trial was held in July 2018 and the parties stipulated Rust-Oleum was referring to Rain-X when it referenced a “leading competitor” on the RainBrella packaging.
According to the RainBrella class action, the Texas jury found, “Rust-Oleum is liable for false advertising for making the claim that RainBrella ‘Lasts 2X Longer Than Rain-X’ and ‘Lasts 2X Longer’ than ‘the leading competitor.’”
The jury also found “Rust-Oleum is liable for misleading advertising based on its claim that RainBrella ‘Lasts Over 100 Car Washes.’”
On appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed the jury’s verdict related to the “Lasts 100 Car Washes” representation on evidentiary grounds.
The appellate court found there was no evidence introduced at trial to support a finding of materiality, which is a necessary element to support the Lanham Act claims. However, the appellate court upheld the jury’s other conclusions concerning the “Lasts 2X Longer” representations.
After the appeals court action, the trial court issued a final judgment that prohibits Rust-Oleum from using the claim “Lasts 2X Longer” and making representations concerning, “RainBrella lasts twice as long as RAIN-X. We ran it through 100 carwashes to prove it.”
Wisconsin plaintiff Shaquavia Harris and her husband have allegedly regularly purchased and used RainBrella for several years, sometimes applying RainBrella multiple times per month. The plaintiff says she began purchasing RainBrella in 2018 and the last purchase was made in December 2020, typically at a cost of about $8 per package.
The plaintiff says she would have never purchased RainBrella if she would have known the statements “Lasts Over 100 Car Washes” and “Lasts 2X Longer” were allegedly false.
The RainBrella glass treatment class action lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division: Shaquavia Harris, v. Rust-Oleum Corporation.
The plaintiff is represented by Simmons Hanly Conroy LLC, Williams Dirks Dameron LLC, and The Goss Law Firm, P.C.
