Class action lawsuit targets Dollar General’s fuel payment policy

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Discount retailer Dollar General Corp. is the subject of a class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, Nashville Division. Plaintiff Cecil Burns of Lafayette County, Mississippi, was a motorist who received a Dollar General gift card instead of change. The plaintiff is demanding a jury trial, according to court documents.

Dollar General “implemented a nationwide and uniform scheme to deprive consumers who choose to pay cash at Defendants’ pumps of that choice,” the court documents say. “Specifically, Defendants pursue a policy that denies consumers who pay for their fuel with cash the right to receive their change in cash. Instead, Defendants load consumers’ change onto a Dollar General fuel card that can only be used to purchase products at Defendants’ stores. Defendants implement this scheme without providing consumers with advance notice.”

Dollar General, which opened its 20,000th store in February, opened its first gas station in Hanceville, Alabama, in 2013. In 2016, the company acquired 41 former Walmart Express locations and planned to sell fuel at 37 of those locations.

According to court documents, Dollar General fuel customers must pay up front for an estimated amount of fuel with an estimated total price, and the retailer reimburses the customer for the amount not used on fuel on a gift card instead of cash. Because the cards can only be used at Dollar General stores, the retailer “unjustly enriched” itself at the class’s expense.

On March 17, 2022, Burns visited a Dollar General gas station in Sardis, Mississippi. Burns wanted to fill up his vehicle, but did not know how much gas he needed to fill it up. He gave the cashier a $100 bill. The cashier told him he needed a gas card to operate the pump, and the cashier gave it to him. The total cost of the gas to fill up his vehicle was $40.02, and Burns returned to the cashier to collect his change of $59.98. The cashier refused to give Burns his change, telling him that Dollar General does not give change in cash, but instead deposits the change on a gift card that can be redeemed at any Dollar General store or gas station, but nowhere else.

“At no time before Burns asked for his change did the cashier inform him that the change from his $100 would be applied to the card and not refunded to him in cash,” court documents state. “No signage or documentation at the register or pumps indicated that the change from a cash-paid gas purchase would be applied to the defendant’s gas card.”

Burns immediately called the police in Sardis, Mississippi. An officer spoke with an employee and the store manager. The store manager explained to the officer that Dollar General’s policy was to exchange change for cash purchases of fuel to a gift card and refused the officer’s request to give Burns his $59.98 in cash in exchange for the card, saying it was in accordance with the chain’s policy.

The court documents define the proposed class as: “All persons in the United States who purchased gasoline in cash at Dollar General and had their change loaded onto a Dollar General fuel card.”

The group is “entitled to damages in an amount to be proven at trial,” the documents state. “Defendants’ conduct constitutes a willful, reckless disregard for the rights of Plaintiff and the Group and entitles Plaintiff and the Group to punitive damages, attorneys’ fees and costs in an amount to be proven at trial. … Defendants’ actions are unfair, contrary to good conscience and contrary to applicable state law. Because of Defendants’ unjust enrichment, Plaintiff and the Group are entitled to a refund in the amount of the change they should have received but for Defendants’ unlawful fuel card practice.”

Dollar General, based in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, did not immediately respond to a CSP Request for comments.

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