History of settling similar lawsuits continues
Sonoma County District Attorney Carla Rodriguez recently announced that Safeway, Albertsons, and Vons entered into a stipulated judgment and will pay $3,962,500 to settle a civil law enforcement complaint that alleged the grocers engaged in false advertising and unfair competition. Safeway Inc., Albertsons Companies, and The Vons Companies operate 589 stores in California under the brand name banners of Safeway, Albertsons, Vons and others.
The action was filed in Marin County Superior Court by the prosecution team which was comprised of prosecutors from throughout the state including the District Attorneys of Sonoma, Alameda, Los Angeles, Marin, Riverside, San Diego, and Ventura counties.
Matter of trust
“Trusting companies to sell products to consumers that are accurately weighed and priced, especially in today’s economy, is a priority to my office,” said DA Rodriguez. “My Environmental and Consumer Law Division works with the Sonoma County Agriculture Commissioner/Weights and Measures department to make sure businesses in our community correctly charge consumers.”
The civil complaint filed by the prosecution team alleged that the grocers unlawfully charged customers prices higher than their lowest advertised or posted price. Beyond the scanner violations, the grocers also had issues with inaccurate weights on the labels of their products. Some items sold by weight such as produce, meats, baked goods and other items had less product in the package than was displayed on the package label. For those items, a grocer may only charge for the product’s actual weight, the packaging is not included in the overall weight.
The Judgment includes an injunction that prohibits the grocers from engaging in false or misleading advertising and prohibits fourteen different unfair practices from advertising short weight products to failing to disclose exclusions in its “Just for U” or “Club Card” programs.
Price Accuracy Guarantee
The Judgment also requires the grocers to implement a Price Accuracy Program which includes a Price Accuracy Guarantee provision that allows a consumer to be compensated up to $5.00 if they are overcharged. The program is an incentive to encourage consumers to report false advertising to the store directly as soon as it is discovered. The judgment further requires the grocers to pay $3,213,000.00 in civil penalties and $749,500 in costs and restitution to cover investigation costs and support future enforcement of consumer protection laws.
The Sonoma County Department of Agriculture, Division of Weights and Measures, is the agency that inspected Safeway and Albertsons stores throughout Sonoma County and is instrumental in monitoring retailers to make sure that consumers are being charged the correct price. Consumers may report weight issues to Sonoma County Weights and Measures by calling (707) 565-2371 or by e-mailing: [email protected].
Chief Deputy District Attorney Matthew Cheever was the prosecutor for the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office.
