Hollister Gift Card Class Action Settlement Gets Initial Approval

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On Monday, a California federal judge approved a class action settlement between Hollister Co. and a class of 9,500 California consumers who claim the Abercrombie and Fitch Co. division failed to honor promotional gift cards that did not have clearly marked expiration dates.

The Hollister class action lawsuit was filed in 2010 by plaintiff Kerry White, who claims he received a promotional gift card after purchasing $85 worth of merchandise at a California Hollister store in December 2009. White alleges the promotional gift card was valued at $25 but did not contain an expiration date.

According to the Hollister class action lawsuit, White gave the $25 gift card to his daughter for Christmas. When she attempted to redeem it on Feb. 7, 2010, she was informed that the card had expired. White alleges Hollister refused to redeem the gift card, pointing out that the expiration date was posted in multiple places, including store signage, online marketing, and in sleeves that held some of the gift cards.

White alleges in the gift card class action lawsuit that Hollister violated California law by failing to print the card’s expiration date on the card in 10-point font. He alleges that approximately 70,000 promotional gift cards were distributed at California Hollister stores during the 2009 holiday season, but more than half of the gift cards went partially or fully unredeemed.

A trial court judge refused to certify the Hollister class action lawsuit in November 2011, finding that putative Class Members received different information about the expiration date on the gift cards. That decision was partially overturned in January 2013 by an appellate panel which ruled that individual inquiry was unnecessary and that class certification was appropriate.

The Hollister class action settlement was filed with the court in June and received preliminary approval Monday from Judge Marc Marmaro. Potential Class Members include anyone who received a promotional gift card after making qualifying purchases at a Hollister store located in California during the 2009 holiday promotional period and attempted to redeem the gift card between Jan. 31, 2010 and Aug. 25, 2010. Class Members are expected to receive a $20 card redeemable for merchandise at Hollister stores.

Information about how to file a claim for the Hollister gift card class action settlement was not immediately available.Keep checking TopClassActions.com or sign up for our free newsletter for the latest updates. You can also mark this article as a “Favorite” using your free Top Class Actions account to receive notifications when this article is updated.

Class Members are represented by Melvin Neal and Loyst P. Fletcher.

The Hollister Gift Card Expiration Class Action Lawsuit is Kerry White v. Hollister Co., Case No. BC444368, in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles.