What Is the Tom's Toothpaste Lawsuit?
The Tom's toothpaste lawsuit is a nationwide consumer class action against Colgate-Palmolive Company and its subsidiary Tom's of Maine, Inc. that settled for $2.9 million and received final court approval on September 23, 2026. The settlement covers people who bought Tom's of Maine toothpaste in the United States between November 21, 2020 and March 6, 2026.
The case, Rabinowitz et al. v. Colgate-Palmolive Company et al., No. 2:25-cv-06996 (JMW), was filed in the Eastern District of New York on December 19, 2025, and replaced five earlier consumer suits filed in courts across the country over toothpaste made at the Sanford, Maine plant. The defendants deny any wrongdoing and say they settled to avoid the cost and risk of litigation.
Other lawsuits involving Tom's of Maine, including lead and arsenic claims over children's toothpaste, are separate cases that this settlement does not resolve.
“Plaintiffs Jana Rabinowitz, Shana Denny, and Yolanda Pitre ('Plaintiffs') commenced this class action against Colgate-Palmolive Company and Tom’s of Maine, Inc. ('Defendants') on behalf of a nationwide group of consumers who purchased certain toothpaste products originating from Defendant Tom’s of Maine’s Sanford, Maine facility.”
Source: Rabinowitz et al. v. Colgate-Palmolive Co. et al., No. 2:25-cv-06996 (JMW) (E.D.N.Y. Sept. 23, 2026), Opinion and Order, ECF No. 30
Why Are People Filing Tom's Toothpaste Lawsuits?
People filed Tom's toothpaste lawsuits because they allege the toothpaste was sold as natural and good for you while the Sanford, Maine plant that made it had drawn an FDA warning letter about its manufacturing conditions. The plaintiffs point to statements that the products were "naturally sourced," "good for you," and made with "rigorous ingredient and packaging standards," and say they would not have bought the toothpaste had they known about the FDA's concerns.
The plaintiffs also say the company issued no recall and no refund after the warning letter, which left them with toothpaste they were unwilling to use. The settlement resolves those claims as a refund of what buyers paid, not as compensation for any injury.
What Injuries Are Included in the Tom's Toothpaste Lawsuit?
The injuries included in the Tom's toothpaste lawsuit are economic rather than physical: the plaintiffs seek money for what buyers paid, not damages for bodily harm. The settlement releases every claim arising from the allegations in the case except personal injury claims, and the defendants deny all wrongdoing.
Three categories of economic harm run through the complaint and the settlement terms, each described below.
Overpayment for Allegedly Misrepresented Toothpaste
Overpayment, in a consumer class action, is the claim that a buyer paid a price that reflected marketing statements the product allegedly did not live up to.
The Rabinowitz complaint pleads nine causes of action, including intentional and negligent misrepresentation, breach of express warranty, fraud by omission, unjust enrichment, and consumer-protection claims under California, Florida, and New York law. Each rests on the same theory: buyers paid for toothpaste described as natural and good for you.
Discarded or Unused Toothpaste
Lost product value, in a consumer claim, is the allegation that a buyer stopped using or threw away a purchased item, so the money spent bought nothing usable.
The plaintiffs say they stopped using or discarded their Tom's toothpaste and other oral care products rather than wait for a recall that never came. The settlement answers that harm with refunds tied to what class members spent, capped by the number of products per claim.
Alleged Contamination Concerns
Contamination, in a product claim, is the alleged presence of unwanted microorganisms or substances in a product or in the place where it is made.
The complaint alleges that water contaminated with bacteria was used to make several batches of toothpaste, based on the FDA's findings at the Sanford plant, which are described in the section on what the defendants allegedly knew. The settlement's release carves out personal injury claims.
Who Qualifies for the Tom's Toothpaste Lawsuit?
You may qualify if:
- You bought one or more Tom's of Maine toothpaste products in the United States between November 21, 2020 and March 6, 2026
- You bought the toothpaste for your own use, not to resell or distribute it
- You submitted a valid claim online or by mail by the July 6, 2026 deadline
You may not qualify if:
- You bought the toothpaste only for resale or distribution
- You did not file a claim by July 6, 2026, since that window has closed
- You asked to be excluded from the settlement class, or you are Colgate, Tom's of Maine, their affiliates, officers, directors, employees, or the presiding judge's immediate family
This summary follows the class definition in the court's final approval order. Only the settlement administrator and a qualified attorney reviewing your own records can confirm whether you were in the class and whether any claim you filed was approved.
What Is the Current Status of the Tom's Toothpaste Lawsuit?
The current status of the Tom's toothpaste lawsuit is final approval: the Eastern District of New York approved the $2.9 million class action settlement on September 23, 2026 and dismissed the case with prejudice. Magistrate Judge James M. Wicks decided the motion after the parties consented to his jurisdiction and after a fairness hearing on September 10, 2026.
Payment has not been confirmed in the sources reviewed. The order describes a sequence tied to an Effective Date: the defendants fund approved claims within ten business days of that date, and the administrator then distributes payments within thirty days. The order gives no calendar date for it.
Rabinowitz et al. v. Colgate-Palmolive Co., et al.
The parties signed a settlement agreement on December 18, 2025, after a May 28, 2025 mediation, and filed Rabinowitz the next day to resolve five earlier actions in one forum. The court granted preliminary approval on March 6, 2026.
| Proceeding Type | Federal consumer class action settlement |
| Court | U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York (Central Islip) |
| Case Number | 2:25-cv-06996 (JMW) |
| Presiding Judge | Magistrate Judge James M. Wicks |
| Filed | December 19, 2025 |
| Settlement Fund | $2,900,000 |
| Class Period | November 21, 2020 to March 6, 2026 |
| Claims Deadline | Passed, July 6, 2026 |
| Final Approval | Granted, September 23, 2026 |
| Disposition | Dismissed on the merits with prejudice |
| Settlement Administrator | Epiq Systems, Inc. |
| Class Counsel | Denlea & Carton LLP; The Wright Law Office, P.A.; Wilshire Law Firm, PLC |
| Defense Counsel | O'Melveny & Myers LLP |
Three class members objected and seven asked to be excluded. The court overruled the objections in full, except for one about the cy pres provision, and changed that provision so that any leftover money goes to Equal Justice Works fellowships focused on consumer protection in food and drug safety.
Did the Tom's Toothpaste Lawsuit Settle?
Yes. The Tom's toothpaste lawsuit settled for a $2,900,000 fund that pays approved claims, notice and administration costs, a $957,000 award of attorneys' fees and expenses, and $1,000 service awards to five plaintiffs, with no admission of liability by Colgate-Palmolive or Tom's of Maine.
What an individual claimant receives depends on the number of valid claims, because the settlement reduces all payments proportionally if approved claims exceed the money available. By simple subtraction, about $1.94 million of the fund remains after the fee award and service awards, before notice and administration costs, but that is not a figure stated in the order.
A claimant who supplied proof of purchase may receive a full refund of the amount spent on up to three Tom's toothpaste products, and a claimant without proof may receive the average manufacturer's suggested retail price for one product per household. Tom's lists a full-size tube at $5.99, according to TODAY.com's reporting. Claimants could choose payment by PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, or a mailed check.
The claim count is large but unsettled. The administrator, Epiq, had received 1,481,582 claim forms by late July 2026, then concluded that many were fraudulent and estimated about 281,000 valid claims as of September 10, 2026, according to the court's order.
Latest Tom's Toothpaste Lawsuit Updates
The latest Tom's Toothpaste lawsuit updates and news, including new filings, rulings, and case-count reports, are tracked below as they're confirmed. The Tom's of Maine toothpaste class action in the Eastern District of New York settled as of October 2026; the terms and timing are covered in the entries below. See the full timeline below for every confirmed development since the litigation began.
Full Tom's Toothpaste Lawsuit Timeline
Court Grants Final Approval of $2.9 Million Tom's of Maine Settlement
Magistrate Judge James M. Wicks of the Eastern District of New York granted final approval of the $2.9 million Rabinowitz v. Colgate-Palmolive settlement, awarded class counsel $957,000 in combined fees and expenses, and dismissed the case with prejudice. The order overruled all objections except one about where leftover money goes.
Fairness Hearing Held in Rabinowitz v. Colgate-Palmolive
The Eastern District of New York held the fairness hearing on the Tom's of Maine settlement on September 10, 2026. Epiq estimated at that point that about 281,000 of the claims received were valid, after concluding that many of the 1,481,582 submitted were fraudulent.
Claims Deadline Passes in the Tom's of Maine Settlement
The deadline to file a claim in the $2.9 million Tom's of Maine toothpaste settlement passed on July 6, 2026, for both online claims and mailed claims postmarked by that date.
Court Grants Preliminary Approval and Fixes the Class Period
Judge Wicks granted preliminary approval of the Tom's of Maine settlement on March 6, 2026, certified the class for settlement purposes, and set the class period as November 21, 2020 through that date.
Foreman Plaintiff Voluntarily Dismisses California Federal Case
William Foreman voluntarily dismissed his Southern District of California bacterial-contamination case against Tom's of Maine and Colgate-Palmolive on December 22, 2025, and joined the Rabinowitz settlement as a special plaintiff.
Rabinowitz Class Action Filed in the Eastern District of New York
Jana Rabinowitz, Shana Denny, and Yolanda Pitre filed Rabinowitz et al. v. Colgate-Palmolive Company et al. on December 19, 2025, one day after the parties signed the settlement agreement, to consolidate five earlier consumer actions in one court.
Parties Mediate Before Judge Suzanne Segal
The parties in the five Tom's of Maine toothpaste actions mediated before the Hon. Suzanne H. Segal on May 28, 2025, which produced a nationwide resolution of the claims that was later documented in the December 2025 settlement agreement.
FDA Issues Warning Letter to Tom's of Maine and Colgate
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration sent Tom's of Maine and Colgate a warning letter on November 5, 2024, raising concerns that conditions at the Sanford, Maine plant, such as water quality, did not comply with the agency's manufacturing practices. Five consumer class actions followed over the next months.
FDA Inspects the Sanford, Maine Tom's of Maine Plant
The FDA inspected Tom's of Maine's Sanford, Maine manufacturing facility in May 2024, the inspection that preceded the November 2024 warning letter and that the Rabinowitz complaint cites as the basis for its allegations.
How to File a Tom's Toothpaste Lawsuit
To file a Tom's Toothpaste lawsuit, start with the 5 steps below.
- Confirm the claims window is closed: The deadline to file a claim in the Tom's toothpaste settlement was July 6, 2026, and the administrator is no longer accepting new claim forms.
- Check whether you filed a claim: Look for a confirmation email, or contact the administrator at info@toothpastesettlement.com or 1-877-315-6779 to ask about the status of a claim you submitted.
- Keep your purchase records: Hold on to receipts, invoices, or loyalty records until payment arrives in case the administrator asks you to support a claim.
- Watch for the Effective Date: Payments depend on the settlement's Effective Date, which the court's order does not fix, so check the docket for case 2:25-cv-06996 in the Eastern District of New York or the settlement website for updates.
- Consult an attorney about claims outside this settlement: The release does not cover personal injury claims, and separate Tom's of Maine lawsuits remain open, so a qualified attorney can tell you whether any other claim applies to you.
Tom's Toothpaste Lawsuit is no longer accepting new claims. The claims deadline in the $2.9 million Tom's of Maine settlement passed on July 6, 2026, and the court granted final approval on September 23, 2026.
What Evidence Do I Need for a Tom's Toothpaste Lawsuit?
The evidence needed for a Tom's toothpaste lawsuit claim was proof of purchase, though the settlement also accepted claims without any proof. Acceptable proof included receipts, invoices, and loyalty records, according to the administrators' guidance as reported by KTLA.
The claims window has closed, so this matters now only for a claim already filed. Records that show what you spent on Tom's toothpaste during the class period are the documents an administrator is most likely to ask about, and the payout rules for each tier are described in the settlement section above.
What Did Tom's of Maine and Colgate Allegedly Know About the Sanford Plant?
Tom's of Maine and Colgate-Palmolive allegedly knew about manufacturing problems at the Sanford, Maine plant after the FDA's May 2024 inspection and its November 5, 2024 warning letter, which raised concerns that conditions, including water quality, did not meet current good manufacturing practices.
ClassAction.org's summary of the earlier Foreman complaint, which cites the FDA letter, says Pseudomonas aeruginosa was recovered from multiple water samples at the plant between June 2021 and October 2022, that the water was used to make Tom's Simply White Clean Mint toothpaste, and that a black mold-like substance sat about a foot from toothpaste equipment. The complaint also says the FDA found the company did not investigate hundreds of complaints about odor, color, and taste.
According to that complaint, Tom's told the FDA it was retrospectively reviewing the incidents and attributed one detection to laboratory error, which the FDA said it had no evidence to support. The settlement website says the defendants reviewed pre-release testing data for about 4,900 finished toothpastes made over three years and found that no batch showed a safety risk to consumers, and the defendants deny all wrongdoing.
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| June 2021 to October 2022 | Pseudomonas aeruginosa recovered from plant water samples | Foreman complaint, as summarized by ClassAction.org |
| May 2024 | FDA inspects the Sanford, Maine plant | Settlement website, as reported by TODAY.com |
| November 5, 2024 | FDA issues a warning letter to Tom's of Maine and Colgate | Final approval order, ECF No. 30 |
| December 18, 2025 | Parties sign the settlement agreement without admitting liability | Final approval order, ECF No. 30 |
How Does the Tom's Toothpaste Lawsuit Compare to Other Tom's of Maine Lawsuits?
The Tom's toothpaste lawsuit differs from other Tom's of Maine lawsuits because it alleges manufacturing-plant and water-quality problems rather than heavy metals or an "all natural" label, and because it is the one that has already settled. Colgate-Palmolive faces several separate matters over its toothpaste brands, which our Colgate lawsuit page tracks together.
| Case | Court | Allegation | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rabinowitz et al. v. Colgate-Palmolive Co. (this page) | E.D.N.Y., No. 2:25-cv-06996 | Plant and water-quality conditions behind Tom's toothpaste | Settled for $2.9 million, final approval September 23, 2026 |
| White v. Colgate-Palmolive Co. and Tom's of Maine, Inc. | E.D.N.Y., filed February 2025 | Lead and arsenic in Tom's Natural Kids Toothpaste | Not a part of this settlement; current status not verified in this review |
| Triesch v. Colgate-Palmolive Co. and Tom's of Maine, Inc. | S.D.N.Y., No. 1:25-cv-04443 | Undisclosed lead, arsenic, and mercury in named toothpastes | Reported active in the sources reviewed |
| Gay et al. v. Tom's of Maine, Inc. | S.D. Fla., No. 14-cv-60604 | Toothpaste marketed as "all natural" while containing chemically processed ingredients | Settled; final approval in March 2016 with a $4 refund per product for up to seven products |
The Rabinowitz release covers claims that arise from the allegations in the five actions or depend on the same operative facts, so the lead, arsenic, and "all natural" cases rest on different facts and are generally separate. Only a qualified attorney can say whether a particular claim falls inside or outside the release.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Tom's toothpaste lawsuit about?
The Tom's toothpaste lawsuit is about whether Tom's of Maine and Colgate-Palmolive misled buyers by selling toothpaste as natural and good for you after the FDA raised concerns about conditions at the Sanford, Maine plant that made it. The defendants deny wrongdoing, and the case ended in a $2.9 million settlement.
Is the Tom's toothpaste lawsuit a class action?
The Tom's toothpaste lawsuit is a class action, filed as Rabinowitz et al. v. Colgate-Palmolive Co. in the Eastern District of New York on December 19, 2025. It is not a multidistrict litigation; it consolidated five earlier consumer suits into one case for settlement.
Did the Tom's toothpaste lawsuit settle?
Yes. The Tom's toothpaste lawsuit settled for $2.9 million, and the court granted final approval on September 23, 2026 and dismissed the case with prejudice, with no admission of liability by the defendants.
Can I still file a claim in the Tom's toothpaste lawsuit?
No. The deadline to file a claim in the Tom's toothpaste lawsuit passed on July 6, 2026, and the court's order closing the case does not reopen it. Class members who filed a timely claim should contact the administrator for the status of that claim.
When will Tom's toothpaste settlement payments be sent?
Tom's toothpaste settlement payments depend on the settlement's Effective Date, and the court's order gives no calendar date for it. Under the terms described in the order, the defendants fund approved claims within ten business days of that date and the administrator pays within thirty days after it.
Is the Tom's toothpaste lawsuit the same as the Tom's of Maine lead and arsenic lawsuit?
No. The Tom's toothpaste lawsuit is not the same as the Tom's of Maine lead and arsenic lawsuits, which allege undisclosed heavy metals in named toothpastes and are separate cases that the $2.9 million settlement does not resolve. The settled case concerns plant and water-quality conditions.