Tag Archive for: Consumer Protection Unit

Gavel & Open Law Book

Lamps Plus to Pay $4.1 Million to Settle Civil Suit

San Diego County County District Attorney Summer Stephan announced today that Lamps Plus, Inc., a California Corporation, Illumine Midco, Inc., and Illumine Finco, Inc., have entered into a stipulated judgment and will pay a total of $4.1 million dollars to settle a civil law enforcement complaint that alleges Lamps Plus engaged in false advertising and unfair competition. The Consumer Protection Units of the District Attorney Offices of San Diego, San Bernardino, Riverside, and Los Angeles counties investigated and prosecuted this matter, and the case was filed in Riverside County Superior Court.

The civil complaint filed by prosecutors alleged that Lamps Plus unlawfully advertised price protection policies— including a price match and a 120% price match guarantee— without clear and conspicuous disclosures that such policies did not include Lamps Plus own-brand products and contained other exclusions.

Lamps Plus is also alleged to have used the “Compare at” and “Comparable Value” sales tags to indicate a bargain price, even where the product sold was an own-brand product with no competitor product in the market or where the comparable product was not of similar design and quality.  Likewise, the “Strike Through” advertised reference price on sales tags is alleged to have been used to indicate a bargain price even where the advertised former price was not an actual former price.

“Civil actions like this one protect the consumer and hold corporations accountable when they fail to follow the laws in place to ensure the public is getting accurate and fair pricing information on products they purchase,” said DA Stephan. “By joining forces with other District Attorney Offices in the state, our combined efforts are protecting Californians up and down the state.”

The Judgment requires Lamps Plus to pay $3,800,000 in civil penalties and $300,000 in costs to cover investigative costs and support future enforcement of consumer protection laws. Lamps Plus has not admitted any liability or wrongdoing but cooperated with the District Attorneys’ investigation.

The judgment includes an injunction that prohibits Lamps Plus from offering a 120% Price Protection Policy, and from advertising any Price Match Guarantee Policy in a manner that results in the Price Protection Guarantee Policy being false or misleading.

The judgment also prohibits advertising of any advertised reference price based on a formula, algorithm, or other method that results in the advertised reference price being false or misleading or results in the advertised reference price having the tendency or capacity to deceive or mislead.

In San Diego, the case was handled by Deputy District Attorney Colleen E. Huschke of the DA’s Consumer Protection Unit. The DA’s Economic Crimes Division is responsible for prosecuting a wide variety of wrongdoing, including elder financial abuse, computer intrusion, complex identity theft, investment scams, embezzlements, real estate, counterfeit goods, environmental crimes and the theft of public assistance funds.  The Division’s Consumer Protection Unit protects San Diego consumers and honest businesses by filing civil and criminal actions to prohibit unfair business practices within the marketplace.

Home Depot to Pay Nearly $2 Million

San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan announced today that Home Depot U.S.A. Inc., entered into a stipulated judgment and will pay $1,977,251 to settle a civil law enforcement complaint that alleged Home Depot engaged in false advertising and unfair competition.

The action was filed in San Diego Superior Court by the DA’s Consumer Protection Unit along with the District Attorneys of Alameda, Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, and Sonoma counties.

The civil complaint filed by prosecutors alleged that Home Depot charged customers prices higher than Home Depot’s lowest advertised or posted price. The problem is often called a “scanner violation,” which is when the price on the item, or on the item’s shelf tag, is not the same once the UPC code is scanned at the point-of-sale device or register.

“Our Consumer Protection Unit is committed to ensuring businesses charge consumers their lowest advertised or posted price,” said DA Stephan. “In addition to county agencies monitoring companies’ actions, the public can also help ensure that scanner prices and shelf tag prices are the same by checking receipts and reporting overcharges.”

The judgment includes an injunction that prohibits Home Depot from engaging in false or misleading advertising and charging an amount greater than the lowest price posted for an item. The judgment requires Home Depot to implement a Price Accuracy Program which adds additional audits and training and eliminates price increases on weekend days.  The new price accuracy procedures will assist Home Depot with compliance with California’s pricing accuracy requirements.

The judgment requires Home Depot to pay $1,700,000 in civil penalties and $277,251 in costs and restitution to cover investigation costs and support future enforcement of consumer protection laws. Home Depot has not admitted any liability or wrongdoing but has cooperated with the weights and measures inspectors throughout the state and with the prosecutors.

The San Diego County Department of Agriculture, Weights and Measures, is the agency that inspected Home Depot throughout San Diego County and is instrumental in monitoring retailers to make sure that consumers are being charged the correct price. Consumers may report overcharges to Weights and Measures online by using the General Consumer Complaint Form or by calling 1-888-TRUE-SCAN (878-3722) (toll free) or e-mail wm.awm@sdcounty.ca.gov.

Deputy District Attorney Kathryn Turner was the prosecutor for the San Diego County District Attorney.

DA Announces $925K Consumer Settlement

San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan announced today that the diet supplement company, American Behavioral Research Institute, LLC, (“ABRI”), maker of Relaxium, agreed to a Court ordered judgment that includes injunctive relief and civil penalties and costs of $925,000.  The judgment was entered today in the Santa Cruz Superior Court and arose from alleged violations the California Automatic Renewal Law (ARL) and False Advertising Law (FAL). The Automatic Renewal Law is designed to prevent companies from automatically renewing subscriptions without the consumer’s knowledge. The False Advertising Law is designed to prevent companies from making unsupported claims about their products.

“We are committed to protecting customers by ensuring they aren’t deceived by automatically renewing charges that are not properly disclosed,” DA Stephan said. “Consumers are bilked out of millions of dollars when companies violate our automatic renewal laws, but working with our law enforcement partners across California, we are holding such companies accountable.”

The District Attorney Offices of San Diego County, Santa Clara County, Santa Cruz County, Los Angels County, Santa Barbara County and the City Attorney of Santa Monica filed the civil action as part of the California Automatic Renewal Task Force (CART). An investigation by CART found that the company did not properly disclose to its customers that their subscriptions would be automatically renewed after a trial period. Under California law, online businesses must clearly and conspicuously disclose all automatic renewal charges, terms of sale and obtain affirmative consent to those recurring charges from the consumer.

The lawsuit filed in Santa Cruz County Superior Court by the joint taskforce of prosecutors, reached a stipulated resolution against the out of state company that imposes an injunction and assesses civil penalties and costs. It also orders restitution specifically to California consumers through a class action case already arranged.

ABRI cooperated in this resolution and, without admitting liability, agreed to change its misleading advertising disclosures in its advertisements, product packaging and website.

The California Auto Renewal Task Force (CART) primarily investigates businesses for violations of the California Automatic Renewal Law and federal statutes regulating automatic renewal contracts. However, when appropriate, it investigates other law violations in conjunction with ARL violations. Deputy District Attorney Stephen Spinella with the DA’s Consumer Protection Unit assisted in the case for the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office.