Home Depot Class Action Alleges Misleading Lumber Sizes

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A Home Depot class action lawsuit alleges the home improvement store chain misleads its customers when it sells lumber according to size.

The complaint states that its “dimensional” lumber products—those sold by height, width, and length—are routinely labeled as being larger than they actually are.

“Defendant regularly advertises for sale dimensional lumber products through in-store shelf tags and signage, labels, and flyers, which contain inaccurate and false product dimensions that do not correspond to the actual dimensions of the products being advertised,” asserts the class action.

The Home Depot class action lawsuit states that the company operates the largest chain of home improvement stores in the U.S., and “dimensional” lumber such as “two-by-fours” are some of its most popular products.

The complaint contends that all of the advertising and labeling on those products is inherently misleading, because “Defendant’s dimensional lumber products all have materially smaller dimensions than those represented in its advertisements and product labeling.”

For example, a 6’ long 4×4 board (meaning it is four inches in both width and height) actually measures 3.5” x 3.5” x 6’, “which is approximately 23 percent smaller than advertised,” the class action notes. Similarly, the most common wooden boards are 2x4s (or two inches by four inches), which the complaint alleges actually measure 1.5” x 3.5”.

The complaint argues that Home Depot does not “state that the advertised dimensions are not the actual dimensions of the products, that the advertised dimensions were ‘nominal’ dimensions, or anything else to indicate that the products’ actual dimensions differ from those explicitly stated on the advertising and product labeling.”

Plaintiff Mikhail Abramov states that he purchased lumber from a Home Depot store in Palatine, Ill. in December of 2016. Abramov says he saw a shelf tag saying that some boards were “4×4-6’ #2 PT GC,” meaning that they were four inches by four inches, by 6 feet pressure treated pine boards. In addition, Abramov says that each board had a tag given this same size information.

However, after he purchased the lumber and measured it at home, he found out that the boards were actually 3.5 inches by 3.5 inches by 6 feet. The class action contends that Abramov was “deceived and/or misled” by Home Depot about the actual dimensions of the lumber that he purchased. Abramov claims that he would not have purchased the dimensional lumber products, or would have only paid much less for them, had he known the truth.

The misleading lumber size lawsuit requests certification of a Class of all persons who purchased dimensional lumber from Home Depot anywhere in the U.S. in the past three years. The complaint also requests a subclass of people who purchase such products in Illinois.

The Home Depot class action seeks actual and compensatory damages under consumer protection laws, as well as an injunction “prohibiting Defendant’s unfair and deceptive advertising practices.”

Abramov is represented by Eugene Y. Turin, Myles McGuire, and Evan M. Meyers of McGuire Law PC.

The Home Depot Misleading Lumber Size Class Action Lawsuit is Mikhail Abramov v. The Home Depot Inc., Case No. 1:17-cv-01860, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.