PITTSBURGH – Imagine it’s six days before your wedding: The ceremony is finalized, the reception party is planned and you enter a shop to get your makeup done – and you contract an untimely case of impetigo, a bacterial skin infection.
That’s allegedly the situation that plaintiffs Amanda Huff and Michael Huff of Bridgeville found themselves in just over a year ago.
The Huffs filed suit in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas on July 19 versus Sephora USA, Inc. of San Francisco.
On July 22, 2018, Amanda says she went to the Sephora store at the South Hills Village mall in Pittsburgh and claims that the staff applied makeup to her face using an unclean and dirty brush. This application, she says, caused her to develop impetigo.
According to the Mayo Clinic, impetigo is characterized by “red sores that quickly rupture, ooze for a few days and then form a yellowish-brown crust, which usually occur around the nose and mouth but can be spread to other areas of the body by fingers, clothing and towels.”
“As a direct and proximate result of the aforementioned incident, plaintiff sustained the following injuries, some or all of which may be permanent: Impetigo, bruises, contusions and other injuries in or about nerves, muscles, bones, tendons, ligaments, tissues and vessels of the body, and nervousness, emotional tension, anxiety and depression,” the suit states.
The suit adds Amanda suffered pain, inconvenience, embarrassment, mental anguish, monetary expenditures for care of her injury, plus emotional and psychological trauma. Not to mention, impaired health, strength and vitality, loss of various pleasures of life, lost earnings and may in the future have to face one, if not more, surgeries.
The plaintiffs contend that their injuries are a direct result of negligence on the part of the defendants, for failing to use a clean makeup brush, failing to prevent harm caused to the plaintiffs and failing to properly train employees as to the health dangers of using a dirty makeup brush during application, as well as proper methods of makeup application.
Counsel for the plaintiffs did not answer a request for comment from the Pennsylvania Record.
For counts of negligence and respondeat superior, the plaintiffs are seeking damages against the defendant in excess of the jurisdictional limits of compulsory arbitration, plus court costs, interest and such other and further relief as the court may deem just and equitable, in addition to a trial by jury.
The plaintiffs are represented by Amy Mathieu of Woomer & Talarico, in Pittsburgh.
The defendant has not yet secured legal counsel, according to court records.
Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas case GD-19-010142
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com