Umbilical Cord Blood Banking Litigation
Case Overview
Keller Rohrback L.L.P., alongside the Law Office of Joseph C. Tann, PLLC, serves as outside counsel to the Attorney General’s Office for the State of Arizona in litigation relating to private umbilical cord blood banking. On March 3, 2025, the State filed a complaint against CBR Systems, Inc., the largest private umbilical cord blood banking business in the United States. CBR houses cord blood and tissue samples in its Tucson, Arizona laboratory.
The complaint alleges that CBR Systems has misled millions of families about the effectiveness and usability of privately stored umbilical cord blood, in violation of the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act. It alleges that CBR led parents to believe that private umbilical cord blood storage would preserve the health and wellbeing of their children and that their banking services were endorsed by physicians. It further alleges that CBR was negligent in the storing and cryo-preservation of the umbilical cord blood, and occasionally, tissue samples. As alleged, CBR failed to promptly inform its customers about deficiencies in samples that the customers were paying CBR to protect, unfairly pocketing the storage fees for useless samples. Finally, the complaint alleges that CBR diminishes publicly available blood by diverting cord blood units away from national registries into their private facility.
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