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Abercrombie & Fitch Must Face Gift Card Class Action
By Matt O’Donnell
The Abercrombie & Fitch class action lawsuit stems from a December 2009 promotion in which the retailer issued nearly 200,000 gift cards valued at $25 each to shoppers who spent at least $100 on a single purchase. The $25 gift cards stated “no expiration date.”
According to the class action lawsuit, however, Abercrombie & Fitch voided the cards on January 30, 2010 by eliminating all remaining credit on the gift cards. This made “it impossible for [Class Members] to receive the benefit of their bargain,” the class action lawsuit says, and constitutes breach of contract and violation of the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act.
Ohio-based Abercrombie & Fitch argued that the gift cards were enclosed in sleeves containing the expiration date. It also argued that the cardholders should be forced to sue separately because their individual circumstances were too different from one another to sue as a group. Some people, for example, got their cards in stores and others online, and some with the sleeve and others without.
U.S. District Judge Gary Feinerman disagreed, ruling that it was fair to certify a class of Plaintiffs who still hold the gift cards, and Plaintiffs who threw out their cards after being told they had expired or were voided.
“The class in this case consists primarily of individuals holding an Abercrombie promotional gift card whose value was voided on or around January 30, 2010. That criterion is as objective as they come,” Feinerman wrote.
Anyone claiming to have thrown out a card could submit an “appropriate affidavit” to that effect, he added.
Updated March 13th, 2012
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