Courtney Jorstad  |  January 24, 2014

Category: Consumer News

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Bridal Warehouse

Class action lawsuit claims Bridal Warehouse tried to pass off a used dress as new.

A Kentucky bride has filed a class action lawsuit against Bridal Warehouse Inc., alleging that the wedding dress company tried to sell her a used dress that it claimed was new.

Plaintiff Kristy Witak claims in the class action lawsuit that she agreed to purchase a new dress from Bridal Warehouse in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, on Oct. 15, 2013 for over $900. On Nov. 15, 2013, Debbie Firth, who is a former Bridal Warehouse employee as well as Witak’s future mother-in-law, went to the store to pick up the dress.

Having worked for the company before, as soon as she looked at the dress, Firth said she could tell that the dress was not new. It looked like the wedding dress retailer had sent the dress over from one its other locations and it was not new from the manufacturer, as it was supposed to be.

“It was obvious to her, having worked in the store, that his was not a dress from the manufacturer,” Ben Carter, one of Witak’s attorneys, told Louisville news station WDRB. “It didn’t have all the hallmarks of a new dress. In fact, it had all the hallmarks of a dress that had been tried on by dozens of other women.”

At that point, Firth asked that Bridal Warehouse send over a new “special order” dress from the manufacturer, according to the agreement the company had with Witak, but the wedding dress company allegedly refused.

The class action lawsuit against Bridal Warehouse is for all Bridal Warehouse customers who purchased what they thought was a new custom wedding dress from the wedding dress retailer and was given a used dress off the sales floor, when they were supposed be given a new dress from the manufacturer, from January 2003 to the present. Witak is asking to represent the class.

Carter said there’s reason to believe that Witak is not the first victim, which is why the lawsuit was filed as a class action complaint.

“We’ve talked to two former employees of Bridal Warehouse at this point,” he said. “And both of them say that this was a widespread practice in all of the locations, and that a substantial percentage of the special-ordered dresses were in fact substituted for dresses from other store rooms.”

The Kentucky woman is charging Bridal Warehouse with fraud, fraudulent omission, violations of the Kentucky Consumer Protection Act and breach of contract.

She is asking the wedding dress retailer to pay damages in the amount of the dress plus triple damages if Bridal Warehouse is found guilty of fraudulent conduct as well as punitive damages.

The plaintiff is represented by Ben Carter of Ben Carter Law PLLC and by Brian Cook and John Bahe of Bahe Cook Cantley and Nefzger, PLC.

The Bridal Warehouse Class Action Lawsuit is Kristy Witak v. Bridal Warehouse Inc. in the Jefferson Circuit Court in Louisville, Kentucky.

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