Carter’s Class Action Lawsuit Alleges Ongoing Fake Sale

Carter’s Inc. has been hit with a class action lawsuit by a consumer who claims the company offers false discounts from inflated and fake reference prices.

Plaintiff Todd Simon says he visited a Carter’s store in California looking to purchase clothing for his infant daughter. While in the store, he claims to have seen advertisements that offered discounts and huge savings.

Simon alleges that he saw a fleece zip-up hoodie as well as signage that the product was part of a Black Friday “Doorbuster” special and that the hoodie was on sale for more than 70 percent off, at a price of $6.

The list price on the hoodie was allegedly $22 and Simon reasonably believed the list price represented the normal selling price for the products in the store.

However, the plaintiff claims that Carter’s never offered the hoodie at a regular price of $22. In fact, Simon says, on the very first day that it offered the hoodie for sale in its stores, Carter’s applied a 50 percent discount off the $22 list price.

“Simply put, no Carter’s customer ever paid the list price for the hoodie at a brick-and-mortar Carter’s store,” states the Carter’s class action lawsuit.

The plaintiff claims that Carter’s, in bad faith, offered the hoodie on its website for a period of a few weeks before selling it in its retail stores. During this short period of time, Carter’s intentionally tried to prevent and discourage website consumers from finding the hoodie and purchasing it.

The Carter’s class action states that the hoodie was not in fact worth the $22 price from which he thought he was getting a discount. He claims that Carter’s offered the hoodie for between $5 and $11, both in the brick-and-mortar store and on its website.

The plaintiff alleges had he known the truth about the actual price of the hoodie, he would not have purchased the product from Carter’s.

“These misrepresentations by Carter’s are material misrepresentations, in that they are the type of representations on which an ordinary prudent person would rely upon in conducting his or her affairs,” notes the Carter’s class action lawsuit.

Simon states he would shop at Carter’s again if he could be confident about the truth of Carter’s prices as well as the value of its products.

The Carter’s class action claims that Carter’s deceptive advertising and sales practices are systematic and pervasive across nearly all of Carter’s products nationwide, including Carter’s retail stores in California.

Purported Class Members include: “All residents of the State of California who, within the applicable limitations period, purchased from a Carter’s-branded brick-and-mortar store located in California one or more products which was advertised or promoted by displaying or disseminating a reference price or discount.”

Carter’s was also sued in May 2019 by a consumer who claimed that emails sent out to the public were misleading because the store offered a discount, but she never received the discount when she purchased a product.

Did you shop at Carter’s thinking you were buying items at a discounted price? Leave a message in the comments section below.

The plaintiffs are represented by Daniel M. Hattis and Paul Karl Lukacs of Hattis & Lukacs.

The Carter’s Discount Class Action Lawsuit is Todd Simon v. Carter’s Inc., Case No. 5:20-cv-01436, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE: The Carter’s & OshKosh False Discount Investigation is now open! If you’ve purchased products in-store or online from Carter’s or OshKosh, you may have a false advertising claim. Submit your information here!

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