Brigette Honaker  |  July 29, 2019

Category: Legal News

Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.

family dollar storeA recent class action lawsuit claims that Family Dollar fails to make their stores accessible to individuals with disabilities by having cluttered aisles that are hard to navigate.

Aisles in the Family Dollar stores are reportedly obstructed by “merchandise, merchandise displays, stocking carts and/or other items positioned so that they block or narrow the aisle pathways of its stores,” according to the Family Dollar class action lawsuit.

Plaintiff Gayle Lewandowski says that Family Dollar puts “profit ahead of the rights of people with disabilities.” The stores are reportedly hard to navigate even for customers without disabilities, meaning that disabled consumers struggle even more to shop in the stores.

Lewandowski says she’s visited Family Dollar stores on multiple occasions but was denied “full and equal access” to the store because her disability made it impossible to shop through the cluttered aisles. When she brought her concerns to the manager, she was allegedly asked to leave the store and not come back. She claims that the lack of equal access is uniform across numerous Family Dollar stores.

“The access barriers described herein are not temporary and isolated. They are systemic, recurring, and reflective of Defendant’s marketing and store policies and practices,” the Family Dollar class action lawsuit claims. “Plaintiff has encountered the same barriers on multiple occasions and has been repeatedly deterred from accessing Defendant’s goods and services as a result.”

According to the Family Dollar class action, the lack of equal access violates the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This law requires all businesses to provide full and equal access to individuals, regardless of whether or not they have a disability.

Family Dollar allegedly fails to meet the expectations of the ADA by running stores that are hard to navigate by disabled individuals.

Lewandowski argues that Family Dollar’s crowded aisles are not simply a symptom of poor management or understaffing. Instead, she claims that the practice is intentional and “driven by a calculated judgment that impeding interior paths of travel increases sales revenue and profits.”

The Family Dollar class action references articles from numerous news outlets including The New York Times which states that dollar stores such as those run by Family Dollar are intentionally messy to encourage purchasing.

“Although this practice may increase profits, it does so at the expense of basic civil rights guaranteed to people with disabilities by the ADA because it results in unlawful access barriers,” Lewandowski claims in her Family Dollar class action lawsuit.

Lewandowski seeks to represent a Class of consumers with mobility disabilities who have attempted to access the interior of any Family Dollar store and who experienced access barriers. She also seeks to represent a Class of the same consumers in Pennsylvania as part of a state-wide class.

The Family Dollar ADA class action lawsuit seeks injunctive relief, court costs, and attorneys’ fees.

Lewandowski and the proposed Class are represented by R. Bruce Carlson, Kelly K. Iverson, and Bryan A. Fox of Carlson Lynch LLP.

The Family Dollar Cluttered Aisles Class Action Lawsuit is Lewandowski v. Family Dollar Stores Inc., Case No. 2:19-cv-00858-MJH, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

We tell you about cash you can claim EVERY WEEK! Sign up for our free newsletter.


397 thoughts onFamily Dollar Class Action Says Cluttered Aisles Violate ADA

  1. Jessie Fleming says:

    I’m always going there here in Freeport Illinois

  2. Tanya Johnson says:

    Please add me….

  3. Melissa cuevas says:

    These companies also Walmart try to save themselves money and put out safety at risk I shop at these retailers and it is a dangerous environment haveing boxes pallet jacks pallets on the floor while shopping I got my toe my foot run over at Walmart by a pallet jack

  4. Thomas Gibson says:

    My daughter has terrible problems with her balance, and I have had to catch her many times before she tripped over the mess in the aisles.
    Please add me

  5. Michelle Wild says:

    Add me too. I was a Project Manager renovating stores, relocating stores and setting up new stores. The directive from corporate before being bought out by Dollar Tree was no merchandise in the aisle ways. After the purchase/acquisition of Dollar Tree purchasing Family Dollar, the directives required Bulk stakes, everywhere and anywhere. The 48″ aisle ways in some cases were made to 44″- 46″ due to layout issues/wrong measurements from the 3rd party surveys. Dollar Tree then hired Contractors to build new stores and install fixtures, taking the lowest bids in most cases, and they had to be trained by some of us that were PM’s how to build the gondolas.

  6. gwen says:

    im in phx az and got hurt and would like to kow if i could be put on this .. i have an incendent report photos and videos

  7. Michelle says:

    Add Me Please. I am a SM for FD.

1 37 38 39

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. By submitting your comment and contact information, you agree to receive marketing emails from Top Class Actions regarding this and/or similar lawsuits or settlements, and/or to be contacted by an attorney or law firm to discuss the details of your potential case at no charge to you if you qualify. Required fields are marked *

Please note: Top Class Actions is not a settlement administrator or law firm. Top Class Actions is a legal news source that reports on class action lawsuits, class action settlements, drug injury lawsuits and product liability lawsuits. Top Class Actions does not process claims and we cannot advise you on the status of any class action settlement claim. You must contact the settlement administrator or your attorney for any updates regarding your claim status, claim form or questions about when payments are expected to be mailed out.