What do mortgage-backed securities have to do with antiwrinkle creams? Not a whole lot, a federal appeals court told a group of disappointed class action lawyers on Thursday.
In a 10-page decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit refused to apply plaintiffs-friendly precedent from a securities case against Goldman Sachs & Co. to a consumer class action against Estée Lauder Companies Inc. and its Clinique Laboratories unit. The panel instead affirmed a judge’s decision to toss the case, which accused the cosmetics companies of making impossible “de-aging” claims while hawking seven of Clinique’s Repairwear products.
