SEATTLE (LN) — U.S. District Judge John H. Chun on Thursday transferred a putative class action against L'Oréal USA S/D, Inc. to the Southern District of New York, concluding that the transfer request appeared meritorious and was unopposed.
Chun granted L'Oréal's motion to transfer venue under 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a). The case was filed by Sohyun Kim on her own behalf and on behalf of others similarly situated. Washington's attorney general's office had intervened as a plaintiff, giving the litigation an unusual dual-track posture that blended private class claims with state enforcement interests.
L'Oréal had moved to transfer or, alternatively, to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim. Kim's counsel filed a response stating she did not oppose transfer. The State of Washington communicated the same position to the court in an email the day of the ruling.
Chun's two-page order offered no analysis beyond noting that the transfer request appeared meritorious and was unopposed, leaving the underlying merits — and L'Oréal's alternative dismissal arguments — for a Manhattan judge to address.
The case now moves to a court that handles a substantial volume of consumer-products class litigation.