Ocean State Job Lot Class Action Challenges ‘Gray Market’ Battery Sales

A New York man says Ocean State Job Lot stores have been selling Duracell batteries that are not properly labeled for U.S. sales.

According to plaintiff Kevin Stewart, Ocean State Job Lot sells “gray market” packs of Duracell batteries that are made and labeled for sale on the Asian market.

The labeling on these packs bear representations such as “LASTS LONGER…MUCH LONGER” and “UP TO 6X LONGER LASTING POWER.” This labeling was allegedly designed for a foreign market where these Duracell alkaline batteries would compete with lower-quality zinc carbon batteries, according to Stewart.

The batteries themselves were also manufactured to the lower specifications applicable to foreign markets, Stewart claims, and they therefore do not live up to U.S. battery specifications.

When sold in the U.S. market, these batteries compete against other alkaline batteries of comparable quality. Against that competition, the label’s promises of a vastly more competitive product don’t hold up, Stewart claims. He argues the label’s representations become false and misleading when Ocean State Job Lot sells these batteries in the U.S. market.

Defendant Ocean State Jobbers Inc. runs a chain of retail stores throughout the Northeast under the name Ocean State Job Lot. The stores offer a broad range of retail merchandise at deep-discount prices.

According to this false advertising class action lawsuit, Duracell recently sued Ocean State Job Lot to get them to stop marketing Duracell batteries intended for overseas markets. Stewart says Duracell recognizes the potential harm to consumers that Ocean State Job Lot could cause through this practice, as well as the damage to Duracell’s brand.

Stewart says he purchased several packs of Duracell batteries from Ocean State Job Lot within the past six months. He has since learned that the performance representations on these packs’ labeling don’t apply to batteries sold in the U.S. but instead are intended to apply to batteries sold in Asia.

Had he known that these batteries were made to lesser specifications and were not as competitive as their labeling makes them seem, Stewart says he never would have bought them.

Stewart seeks to represent a plaintiff Class that would cover all persons who, within the applicable statutory limitations period and within the states of New York, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut or New Jersey, purchased from an Ocean State Job Lot store any pack of alkaline Duracell batteries not intended for sale in the U.S.

He is asking the court to certify his proposed Class and appoint him as class representative and his attorneys as class counsel. He seeks an injunction that would bar Ocean State Job Lot from continuing any practices that allegedly violate state consumer protection laws.

He is also asking for an award of damages, court costs and attorneys’ fees.

Stewart’s attorneys are Jeffrey I. Carton and Robert J. Berg of Denlea & Carton LLP.

The Ocean State Job Lot Duracell Battery Mislabeling Class Action Lawsuit is Kevin Stewart v. Ocean State Jobbers Inc., Case No. 3:17-cv-01266, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.