Proposition 65 & Consumer Regulatory Compliance

Carlton Fields has one of the most experienced Proposition 65 litigation teams in the country, paired with a rapidly growing practice covering the full landscape of state and federal consumer regulation. Our attorneys bring decades of experience counseling and defending companies of every size and industry in matters involving both Prop 65 and consumer regulations, including PFAS and microplastics restrictions, packaging and recycling laws, carbon and climate reporting, consumer privacy, and advertising compliance. We are litigators first, and our advice reflects what it actually takes to build a winning defense.

Trial-Proven Defense

Few Prop 65 cases proceed to trial, and many attorneys never try one. Carlton Fields is different. In the past four years, we have secured defense decisions in three trials involving food products — a record few firms can match. That trial experience informs our work at every stage, from initial case assessment through resolution.

Who Is at Risk

Prop 65 affects companies worldwide that sell products — including food — in California, the world’s fourth-largest economy. U.S.-based companies that import, package, distribute, or sell products in California, whether online or in a store, must comply where warnings are required or face claims from private enforcers, who receive a share of penalties and attorneys’ fees. These claims can be costly and widespread, often affecting entire industries, and may require companies to place warnings on products or change their chemical composition. And Prop 65 is just one piece of a much larger and fast-growing set of state and federal consumer regulations that create similar exposure.

Our Clients and Industries Served

We defend retailers, distributors, and manufacturers across a broad range of products:

• Health supplements and baby foods
• Personal care products and cosmetics
• Apparel, accessories, and home goods
• Automotive and heavy machinery

Regardless of size, our attorneys work collaboratively with clients from the outset to understand their business and provide a clear-eyed evaluation of their options, whether that means an early, favorable settlement or a defense through trial.

Our Approach

• Understanding enforcement trends: We track the private enforcers and plaintiffs’ firms active in this space, including the amounts and terms of their typical settlements.
• Strategic defense planning: We ask the right questions early to build the most effective defense and determine whether settlement or litigation is the optimal path.
• Exposure analysis: Receipt of a violation notice does not necessarily mean a warning is legally required. Prop 65 liability turns on chemical exposure. We work closely with experts in this field who perform exposure assessments to help evaluate whether a defense exists. Through our “Compliance Science” webinar series, our lawyers and a toxicologist examine how proper exposure assessments and laboratory testing can determine the outcome of a case.
• Early assessment capabilities: Our experience across every phase of these matters allows us to give clients a preliminary evaluation early, so they can make the decision that is right for their business.
• Compliance guidance: We help clients minimize risk by applying the latest regulatory developments and best practices in manufacturing and distribution, ingredient sourcing, chemical testing, and supplier agreements.

Prop 65 is a complex law with technical regulations and pitfalls for the inexperienced. Our experience and insight have consistently led to favorable outcomes for clients, whether through dismissals, settlements on favorable terms, or trial victories.

Beyond Prop 65: A Broader Consumer Regulatory Practice

Prop 65 is one part of a much larger, and expanding, body of chemical and consumer-protection regulation in California and other states — an area poised for continued growth, particularly given the deregulatory environment at the federal level. Carlton Fields monitors regulatory developments across multiple states and helps clients stay ahead of these often-conflicting rules to maintain compliance and avoid penalties, including:

• PFAS and microplastics: Counseling on bans and restrictions affecting food, cosmetics, cookware, apparel, and furniture.
• Packaging, recycling, and EPR: Advising on producer-responsibility, recycled-content, and packaging laws spreading across the states.
• Carbon and climate reporting: Guiding clients through emerging greenhouse gas and climate-disclosure requirements.
• Consumer privacy: Advising clients on the growing patchwork of state consumer privacy laws such as the California Consumer Privacy Act.
• Advertising and labeling: Defending false advertising and consumer class actions, and counseling clients on understanding and complying with FTC regulations and state laws like California's Consumers Legal Remedies Act.
• Best practices: Advising clients on proactive compliance strategies designed to reduce risk as the regulatory landscape evolves.

Guiding Companies Through Compliance

Prop 65 and consumer regulatory claims can be complex, costly, and far-reaching. Carlton Fields provides strategic, evidence-based counsel to manage regulatory risk, defend claims, and achieve favorable outcomes, whether through dismissal, settlement, or trial.

Partner With Experienced Counsel
We work collaboratively with clients to evaluate potential exposure, assess enforcement trends, and design compliance and defense strategies tailored to their operations and products.

• Secured a 2024 defense verdict in a Prop 65 trial involving lead in turmeric.
• Achieved dismissal of a major Prop 65 food case during a lengthy trial on the scope of relevant products.
• Secured a defense win in a weeks-long Prop 65 food trial with implications for an entire industry.

• Counsel one of the world’s leading rice manufacturers on Proposition 65 and state chemical regulatory compliance.
• Advise trade associations and manufacturers on supply chain management, vendor certification, and compliance with state and federal chemical regulations, including PFAS, packaging, and personal care products.
• Develop and review compliance programs for online marketplaces, including merchant education and contractual updates addressing California chemical law and Prop 65.
• Counsel a national publishing company on compliance with state EPR laws.
• Advise a national tool company on obligations under California’s greenhouse gas emissions reporting laws.
• Counsel a beverage company on applicable state and FDA regulations for a new product line.

• Represented national food companies in proposed class actions alleging misleading protein labeling in violation of FDA and California regulations.
• Represent and advise companies in matters alleging false and deceptive advertising and violations of California’s Consumer Legal Remedies Act and Unfair Competition Law based on labeling and marketing of products promising health benefits and claims of “all natural” ingredients. 
• Represented numerous food and product manufacturers in claims of misleading advertising under California’s Consumer Legal Remedies Act.
• Represented a national tool manufacturer in claims alleging violation of the FTC “Green Guide” and California’s recycling laws.
• Represented numerous manufacturers, distributors, and retailers of consumer products in hundreds of prelitigation and litigation Proposition 65 matters, representing one-person businesses and Fortune 500 companies, in matters involving as few as 12 and as many as several hundred thousand allegedly noncompliant products.