Paul Tassin  |  September 1, 2017

Category: Consumer 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.

BLOOMINGTON, MN/USA - August 12, 2015: The Home Depot exterior. Home Depot is an American retailer of home improvement and construction products, supplies and services.A California man is accusing Home Depot of passing off lower-quality wood as authentic mahogany, according to a recent mislabeling class action lawsuit.

Plaintiff Clyde Golden says the wood he bought from defendant Home Depot USA Inc. was not actual mahogany as labeled. He says this wood is actually a cheaper variety of eucalyptus that does not have the characteristics consumers expect from a wood identified as true mahogany.

By mislabeling these products, Home Depot is allegedly deceiving consumers into paying too much for a lower-quality product, the Home Depot class action lawsuit claims.

Genuine mahogany has characteristics that make it highly sought after for decorative use. Golden says real mahogany is durable and easy to work with, and it has an appealing reddish-brown color that gets deeper and redder with time. For these reasons, mahogany is sought out for use in furniture building, boat building, and decorative finish carpentry.

While there are several varieties of authentic mahogany, Golden says, they all come from trees of the Meliaceae family. Wood from any other family is not true mahogany, he claims.

That’s the problem with the wood Home Depot markets as mahogany, according to this Home Depot class action lawsuit. Golden says this wood is actually eucalyptus wood from the Myrtaceae family.

This eucalyptus wood is commonly called “swamp mahogany” or “red mahogany.” But Golden says its characteristics are so different from those of real mahogany that to advertise it as mahogany is deceptive and misleading. Swamp mahogany is denser than the real thing and not as easy to work with, he says.

Other non-mahogany wood is sometimes advertised as “Santos mahogany,” a moniker which Golden says is known as a sales gimmick used to sell lower-grade lumber.

Still, Home Depot allegedly fails to make that distinction clear to consumers. Golden shows a screen shot from Home Depot’s retail website that promotes certain lumber as “finest grade” and “premium” mahogany, without identifying the wood’s precise species. Shoppers inquire about wood species in the website’s “Questions and Answers” section, but Home Depot allegedly does not respond to those questions.

“This failure to disclose the species leads consumers to believe they are purchasing a product which is substantially more valuable and desirable than the product they ultimately receive,” according to Golden’s complaint.

“Labeling and representing these products to consumers as mahogany is extremely misleading, as consumers are unknowingly induced into purchasing less desirable, lesser known species of wood, expecting the quality and prestige of true mahogany.”

Golden says that in July 2017 he purchased what he was led to believe was mahogany wood from a Home Depot store in Bakersfield. Home Depot employees told him the wood he was buying was “authentic, genuine” mahogany, he claims. He discovered later that the wood he had purchased was actually Eucalyptus rubusta, or swamp mahogany.

Had he known the true species of the wood he purchased, Golden claims, he either would have paid less for it or would not have bought it in the first place.

Golden seeks to represent a plaintiff Class that would include all California residents who since 2011 purchased wood labeled as mahogany from Home Depot either from a retail location or through the company’s retail website.

He is asking the court to award restitution and disgorgement of all funds Home Depot gained due to the alleged mislabeling, plus reimbursement of attorneys’ fees and costs of litigation, all with pre- and post-judgment interest.

Golden’s attorneys are Keith L. Altman, Solomon Radner and Ari Kresch of Excolo Law PLLC.

The Home Depot Mahogany Mislabeling Class Action Lawsuit is Golden v. Home Depot USA Inc., Case No. 2:17-at-00907, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.

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

9 thoughts onHome Depot Class Action: Customers Deceived by Mislabeled Lumber

  1. Me Me says:

    Lori, did you read the full response from TCA?
    Good grief.

  2. NORMAN GUINN says:

    Please add me

  3. Sheree Kelley says:

    Please add me

  4. James Monica says:

    Please add me.

  5. Cynthia Brown says:

    Add me! Thanks

  6. Shelly wicklund says:

    Can add me please always buy wood here

    1. Top Class Actions says:

      The case is still moving through the courts and has not yet reached a settlement. Claim forms are usually not made available to consumers until after a court approved settlement is reached. We recommend you sign up for a free account at TopClassActions.com and follow the case. We will update the article with any major case developments or settlement news! Setting up a free account with Top Class Actions will allow you to receive instant updates on ANY article that you ‘Follow’ on our website. A link to creating an account may be found here: https://topclassactions.com/signup/. You can then ‘Follow’ the article above, and get notified immediately when we post updates!

      1. Lori Wicketts says:

        Add me

    2. Scammer says:

      you are a scammer

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.