JCPenney class action claims store advertises fictitious original prices, discounts

JCPenney discounts class action lawsuit overview:

• Who: Maria Carranza filed a class action lawsuit against J.C. Penney Co. Inc. 
• Why: Carranza claims JCPenney lists false original prices for products on its website to make sale discounts appear larger than they actually are.
• Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in California federal court.

JCPenney advertises fictitious original prices for products on its website so that its sale prices appear to consumers like better discounts than they actually are, a new class action lawsuit alleges. 

Plaintiff Maria Carranza claims JCPenney misleads consumers about the market value of products it allegedly gives an inflated original price, in order to persuade them to make a purchase. 

Carranza argues JCPenney does further harm by allegedly artificially inflating the true market price of the products, which in turn raises a consumers’ “internal reference price” of what it should cost. 

“False reference pricing schemes enable retailers, like Defendants, to sell products above their true market price and value — and consumers are left to pay the price,” the JCPenney class action states. 

Carranza wants to represent a nationwide class of consumers who have purchased a product from JCPenney’s website that was sold at a discount from an advertised reference price, and who have not received a refund or credit for said purchase(s). 

JCPenney tricks consumers to ‘increase sales and profits,’ class action says

JCPenney chooses to list false original prices for its products because they know doing so will allow them to “increase sales and profits by tricking consumers,” the JCPenney class action alleges. 

“The information available to consumers varies … nonetheless, consumers frequently lack full information about products and as a result often use information from sellers to make purchase decisions,” the JCPenney class action states. 

Carranza claims JCPenney is in violation of California’s False Advertising Law, Consumers Legal Remedies Act and Unfair Competition Law. 

The plaintiff is demanding a jury trial and requesting declaratory and injunctive relief along with an award of actual, statutory, and punitive damages for herself and all class members. 

In October, JCPenney was part of a recall for children’s pajamas and bathrobes sold by the company — along with Amazon — over concerns they violated flammability standards and could present a burn hazard. 

Have you purchased a product that was listed at a discounted price on JCPenney’s website? Let us know in the comments.

The plaintiff is represented by Todd D. Carpenter and Scott G. Braden of Lynch Carpenter LLP.

The JCPenney discounts class action lawsuit is Carranza, et al. v. Old Copper Co. Inc., Case No. 3:23-cv-00276, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

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