The parent company of the Stanley drinkware brand is facing new legal challenges in separate cases – one tied to lead concerns in its tumblers and the other in connection with a recall over defective lids.

On May 12, several consumers filed a proposed class action lawsuit against Pacific Market International (PMI) – a complaint that’s an outgrowth of malfunctioning lids that caused at least 11 people to require medical attention after being burned.

Stanley Switchback and Trigger Action travel mugs were recalled over burn hazards in December 2024.

The suit from Danielle Scherzi of New York, Mark Munoz of California and Leah Babiarz of Illinois accuses Washington state-headquartered PMI of violations of consumer protection laws, false advertising, fraud, deceptive practices, unjust enrichment and other offenses.

The plaintiffs are seeking restitution and damages. They’re also asking the judge to certify the suit as a class action, which if granted could enable anyone in the U.S. who bought one of the more than 2.6 million recalled travel mugs to potentially collect any restitution and/or damages that may be awarded.

“This case concerns a deceptively dangerous product and its manufacturer’s inadequate recall efforts,” the lawsuit said.

In December 2024, PMI, in conjunction with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), recalled the more than 2.6 million Switchback and Trigger Action travel tumblers after 38 burn injuries were reported worldwide in connection with the drinkware.

The recall for the Stanley products said that the mugs’ lid threads can shrink when exposed to heat and torque, causing the lid to detach during use. That poses a burn hazard to folks imbibing hot liquids from the mugs.

“Any requests for refunds are denied. A consumer has only one option: Receive a replacement lid, regardless of whether they continue to want one or to trust the manufacturer.” From a lawsuit filed against Stanley parent company PMI over defective lids that caused burns

The CPSC said there were at least 91 reports globally, including 16 in the United States, of the mugs’ lids detaching. Of the nearly 40 burn victims, two were in the United States. Worldwide, 11 people required medical attention.

The lawsuit ripped PMI for its actions in the wake of the recall, saying the company failed to adequately disclose the lid defect and that it has offered inadequate remedies.

“Any requests for refunds are denied,” the suit asserts. “A consumer has only one option: Receive a replacement lid, regardless of whether they continue to want one or to trust the manufacturer.”

The suit says Stanley/PMI is replacing the “defective travel mug lids with clearly inferior lids – any reasonable person would think twice about using a Stanley travel mug again.”

PMI/Stanley has not yet responded to the consolidated complaint, which brings together what had been separate actions over the same recall.

Among the promo products suppliers that carry Stanley tumblers, Counselor Top 40 supplier Starline (asi/89320) offered some of the recalled styles in 2022 and 2023 but no longer does. Top 40 supplier PCNA (asi/66877) carried the 16 oz. and 20 oz. Trigger Action between September 2023 and May 2024, but also no longer does.

Lead Lawsuit Revived

In January 2025, PMI temporarily prevailed in a lawsuit that different consumers brought against the company over lead concerns. A Jan. 17 order from U.S. District Judge Tana Lin granted PMI’s motion to dismiss the proposed class action complaint that a handful of plaintiffs from several states had filed against the firm.

However, Lin ruled that the consumers had 45 days to file an amended complaint. They subsequently did just that. Their amended suit says PMI failed to reveal that its popular Quencher tumbler and other models contain lead as part of a sealing agent in the base.

A judge has tossed out a lead-concern lawsuit against #Stanley drinkware's parent company, but that might not be the end of things in the proposed class action case. https://t.co/LudNOIXazm

— Chris Ruvo (@ChrisR_ASI) January 23, 2025

This failure to disclose, the plaintiffs argue, deceived consumers into buying products they otherwise would not have and exposed them to health risks that are said to stem from lead exposure.

“Had PMI disclosed these material facts and safety-related defects at the time of purchase, plaintiffs and other reasonable consumers would not have bought the Stanley tumblers at all or would have paid materially less for them absent PMI’s omissions and active concealment regarding the inclusion of lead in the tumblers,” the amended complaint says. “They thus have spent money that, absent PMI’s actions and inactions, they would not have spent on such products.”

The suit from Mariana Franzetti, Laura Barbu, Robin Krohn, Mackenzie Brown, Meiling Robinson and Holly Rydman seeks class action status and damages, among other remedies.

Still, PMI has filed to have the case struck and dismissed. In the original Stanley lawsuit, PMI argued that the complaint was fatally flawed and should be dismissed because it failed to show any viable evidence that the presence of lead in Stanley tumblers has caused negative health effects on anyone who bought the drinkware.

Lin ultimately sided with PMI that time around. The judge should do so again, PMI attorneys assert in their call for the new case to be dismissed.

The amended complaint “does nothing to address the basis of the court’s dismissal order,” PMI attorneys write. “Once again, there are no factual allegations that lead in Stanley cups harms consumers. There are no allegations that a single person has ever ingested lead from a Stanley cup or will do so, much less that a single person has ever been physically harmed by such ingestion or will be. The amended complaint accordingly fails to state any claim for exactly the same reasons the prior complaint failed to state any claim.”

The Stanley Quencher was named ASI Media’s 2023 Product of the Year, but exclusive data from ASI Research, measured in searches in ESP, shows that the brand’s popularity relative to other products is starting to decline.

PMI is involved in other ongoing legal battles, including a suit against third-party Amazon sellers and another in which Stanley Black & Decker, the toolmaker, has sued PMI, alleging trademark infringement.