A Glendale woman who claims she got herpes from using a sample lipstick at Sephora in Hollywood settled her lawsuit against the company, which she blamed for her infection. Sephora has reached a settlement with the woman who says she contracted a herpes-related cold sore from a lipstick sample at its Hollywood store.
According to her attorney, Elena Davoyan had never had a cold sore on her lip before, but she developed one shortly after she tested the sample lipstick, which was put out for communal use at the Sephora shop at Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue.
Davoyan sued, alleging the company was at fault for causing her to acquire the oral herpes virus. According to the lawsuit, Sephora’s business plan is to get people into its stores so that they will sample and buy products. The company should have known the risk of offering samples of lipsticks being used by more than one customer, she claimed.
Other lipstick distribution companies have mini-samplers with only one fresh sampler per customer, the suit states.
Robert Krasney, an attorney for plaintiff Elena Davoyan, filed a notice of settlement Tuesday with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Christopher Lui. No terms were revealed.
Sephora released a statement shortly after the lawsuit was filed.
“The health and safety of our clients is our foremost priority,” the statement read. “We take product hygiene very seriously and we are dedicated to following best practices in our stores.”
