Retail giant Walmart will soon have to pay USD 45 million (EUR 41 million) to consumers as part of a settlement of a class-action lawsuit regarding the sale of improperly weighted groceries, including seafood.
The lawsuit, filed in October 2022, alleged Walmart overcharged shoppers for certain groceries that were sold by weight – including meat, poultry, pork, seafood, and certain fruits sold in bulk.
While Walmart denied the allegations, it agreed in September 2023 to settle and pay shoppers USD 45 million. Shoppers who purchased groceries between 19 October 2018 and 19 January 2024 could get payouts of up to USD 500 (EUR 461) each, according to USA Today.
Affected shoppers can submit a claim by 5 June 2024.
The lawsuit alleged that the Bentonville, Arkansas, U.S.A.-based company’s sales on sold-by-weight products, identified by a “rollback” sticker, deceived consumers.
"Walmart advertises the rollback price as a new, reduced per-pound or -ounce price. It is reasonable and expected for plaintiff and customers to rely on, and reasonable to expect that they will pay, the lowest advertised price on a price sticker and/or rollback,” the lawsuit said.
Seafood and meat products are labeled with price-embedded bar codes that are sold by weight for a price calculated as the product’s net weight times the price per unit of weight for the product.
However, Walmart did not charge – and the customer did not pay – the lowest advertised price that appears on a rollback sticker or price sticker for the sold-by-weight products, the lawsuit alleged.
“Instead, at the register, when the customer checks out, Walmart’s point-of-sale (POS) system deceptively, systemically, and artificially increases the weight of the product at checkout, resulting in the customer paying an inflated price,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit also alleged bulk products sold by the retailer with a sticker indicating the weight of the contained products often contained less by weight than the sticker stated, resulting in customers paying more per ounce than what Walmart advertised.
Walmart also sold reduced-price products that were close to expiration in a deceptive way, the lawsuit alleged. The company put a sticker with a “reduced” price of a product, but when the products weight was multiplied by the advertised price-per-pound sales price, it was lower than the actual price charged.
“Walmart’s conduct is systemic and driven by its POS System ... and software that is programed to falsify weights and, thus, overcharge the customer for the products,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit elaborated that the falsification was “symptomatic of a programmed fraudulent scheme,” and when Walmart employees were confronted with evidence by customers, they could not explain the differences in weight and could not correct the weight or price information.
Walmart has denied any wrongdoing related to the lawsuit.
“We still deny the allegations; however, we believe a settlement is in the best interest of both parties," the company said in a statement to USA Today.
