Victoria’s Secret Class Action Alleges Website Terms Illegal

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.

On April 17, a class action lawsuit was filed against the companies behind the Victoria’s Secret website for alleged violations of New Jersey consumer protection laws. The class action lawsuit asserts that “through its ‘Site Terms, Conditions And Notices,’ Defendant imposes on New Jersey consumers involuntary, illegal, and unenforceable limitations of consumer rights and remedies in violation of New Jersey’s Truth-in-Consumer Contract, Warranty and Notice Act.”

The Victoria’s Secret New Jersey class action complaint is against L Brands Inc., Victoria’s Secret Direct Brand Management LLC, and Victoria’s Secret Stores Brand Management Inc. The class action alleges that those defendants are responsible for the terms and conditions that consumers apparently agree to by making purchases from “Defendant’s website, www.victoriassecret.com, or via Victoria’s Secret’s microsites, mobile websites, or mobile applications.”

Plaintiff Bronwyn Nahas states that she made several purchases from the Victoria’s Secret website on Nov. 22, 2015. Those purchases made her “subject to Defendant’s Site, Terms and Conditions,” which are in violation of New Jersey law, according to the complaint.

The class action lawsuit explains that New Jersey’s Truth-in-Consumer Contract, Warranty and Notice Act (TCCWNA) prohibits businesses from entering into consumer contracts that contain provisions that violate any part of New Jersey law.

The complaint states that “the TCCWNA was designed to prevent sellers from attempting to deceive New Jersey consumers into believing that they are not entitled to enforce their statutory and common law rights or pursue corresponding remedies.” Even if a contract provision is not enforceable in New Jersey, many consumer won’t know that, “and for this reason the consumer often fails to enforce his rights,” the complaint quotes.

The New Jersey class action lawsuit specifically takes issue with several terms and conditions of the Victoria’s Secret website.  First, the website has a liability disclaimer that “in no event will Victoria’s Secret be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages for use of the Site or any other hyperlinked websites…” According to the complaint, New Jersey consumer protection laws prohibit sellers from trying to limit consequential damages, especially for intentional acts.

Second, that same limitation on liability provides that it is not enforceable “in some jurisdictions” and that “the foregoing limitations may not apply to you.” The class action argues that by omitting that the liability waiver does not apply to New Jersey residents specifically, it violates the TCCWNA. Finally, Victoria’s Secret website terms state that Ohio law applies to all transactions. The complaint claims that the choice of law provision is buried in the middle of a paragraph, and not clear and conspicuous, also in violation of New Jersey law.

The plaintiff seeks to represent a Class of “all consumers in the State of New Jersey that purchased a product from Defendant’s website…microsites, mobile websites, or mobile applications.” The class action requests restitution, statutory penalties, and an order preventing the defendants from further violations of New Jersey consumer protection laws.

Nahas is represented by Stephen T. Sullivan, Jr. and John E. Keefe, Jr., of Keefe Bartels LLC, and Jeffrey M. Ostrow, Avi R. Kaufman, and Scott A. Edelsberg of Kopelowitz Ostrow Ferguson Weiselberg Gilbert.

The Victoria’s Secret Website Class Action Lawsuit is Bronwyn Nahas v. L Brands Inc., et al., Case No. 2:16-cv-02107, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.