Walmart faces class action lawsuit over false pricing
Walmart is facing a class-action lawsuit alleging the multinational retail giant used inaccurate price tags, according to a July 3 federal appeals court ruling.
The ruling by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago gives consumers the opportunity to prove that the company violated several consumer protection laws.
The crux of the problem is that the inaccurate prices in Walmart stores are a loss leader, with purchase prices higher than those listed on store shelves.
The lawsuit was filed by an Ohio resident named Yoram Kahn. In August 2022, Kahn purchased several items at a Walmart store in Niles, Illinois, and found that the price was 10-15% above the list price. In Kahn’s subsequent lawsuit, he claimed that similar price discrepancies were also found at Walmart stores in Florida, Indiana, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York.
The lawsuit also noted that the company was fined $2 million in 2012 by a California court for “violating a 2008 ruling that required the company to fix pricing errors at checkout.” Additionally, two North Carolina locations were fined in 2021 for “repeated and excessive scanning fees” that resulted in overcharges for purchased items.
In June 2024, Walmart agreed to pay $1.64 million in compensation to customers of its New Jersey stores over “allegations that the chain repeatedly engaged in unlawful unit pricing practices.”
Kahn’s lawyers argued that it was unreasonable for the average consumer to keep track of discrepancies between prices displayed on the shelves and potentially adjusted prices at the checkout.
“Who does such a thing?” wrote Judge David Hamilton in his ruling. “For obvious reasons, consumers will not conduct such checks.”
USA TODAY has reached out to Walmart for comment.
Walmart tests new digital labels
Last month, Walmart announced that it was testing new digital shelf labels that could control the pricing of the store’s products.
Walmart changes price displays: What you should know about digital shelf labels
According to a company spokesperson, Walmart’s digital labels would allow it to “update prices on the shelf using a mobile app. This would eliminate the need to walk around the store to manually change paper labels. And we would have more time to take care of customers in the store.”
Max Hauptman is a trending reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected]
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