A hearing on a motion by L’Oreal USA Inc. and other cosmetic companies challenging the claims by 15 plaintiffs that their bladder cancer was due to exposure to carcinogenic and endocrine-disrupting chemicals in hair dye products will be held later this month after Wednesday’s original date was canceled due to a courthouse emergency.
The Spring Street Courthouse of the Los Angeles Superior Court was shut down Wednesday as a safety precaution while damage was assessed due to a water leak. Judge Samantha Jessner rescheduled the proceeding for Feb. 24.
The plaintiffs include Hector Corvera, whose case was profiled by NBC News in February 2025, a month after he filed it.
“It’s ruined my life,” Corvera told an interviewer. “I’m not normal anymore, having to think of it every day, whether this is going to come back.”
Other hair care brands listed in the lawsuit include Wella, Clairol, John Paul Mitchell Systems, Joico and All Nutrients. All claim in court papers challenging the product liability/deceit cases that the claims are vague and “fail to satisfy the standard for pleading product defect causation” set by the state Supreme Court.
“Instead of identifying specific products, plaintiffs allege exposure to hair dye generally caused their injuries,” the defense attorneys state in their court papers. “Without basic product identification, much less allegations that plaintiffs were actually exposed to toxins within those products, defendants cannot ascertain what products are at issue, whether they manufactured them and what the formula for the product is or was.”
The plaintiffs lack standing to claim a violation of the Unfair Competition Law because they did not purchase the products they allege harmed them, the defense attorneys further argue.
According to the NBC News interview, Corvera was born and raised in the Central Valley to Mexican-American agricultural farmers. He grew up helping out during harvests, but after high school he sought a different profession and hairdressing appealed to him, Corvera explained.
Corvera was not only intrigued by the cooler temperatures of a salon, but also knew he would never be out of work because “people’s hair always grows,” he further said during the NBC News interview.
Corvera was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2023 and his condition is a “direct and proximate result of the unreasonably dangerous and defective nature of the defendants; hair color products and the chemicals…” the suit states.
The other plaintiffs are Pamela Andreotti, Rogelio Campos Sr., Patricia Colamesta, William Connolly, Linda Donaghey, Ambrose Gonzales, Bruce Kushnick, Sharon Mirtaheri, Joan Sarlo, Beatrice Singleton, Shadia Smith, Holly White, Janet Whitten and Martha Wilson-Whitney.