A Recipe for Change
One of the most important and persistent “kitchen table” issues facing American families is their grocery bill. Politicians are routinely asked if they can recite the cost of a gallon of milk as evidence of whether they’re in touch with Americans struggling to put food on the table. And grocery store prices are often treated like economic oracles about the overall health of the economy — and the financial circumstances of American families and workers. So when CBS News reported in February that grocery prices continue to rise at rates that are having a real impact on consumers’ wallets, it was seen as a cautionary tale about the fragility of America’s economic health and the squeeze on Americans’ pocketbooks. And the news was especially foreboding for some of our country’s most vulnerable communities.
“Prices for food at home — what people buy at retailers to prepare their own meals — jumped 11.3% in January from a year earlier,” CBS reported, adding that, “Seniors and low-income households are among the most hurt by stubbornly high prices in the grocery aisle. Although Social Security recipients received an 8.7% cost-of-living increase for 2023, the biggest jump since 1981, the bump still lags food costs, while the poor generally spend a greater share of their overall earnings on food.”
Add to that the end of enhanced food benefits for 30 million Americans that expired last month, and it’s easy to understand why so many Americans are looking for creative ways to save at the grocery store.
But in an effort to lure in bargain hunters, one grocery store chain in Oregon actually ripped them off: Safeway stores (owned and operated by Albertsons) in the state were caught tricking consumers with “Buy 1, Get 1 Free” and “Buy 1, Get 2 Free” sales that weren’t real.
In fact, what Safeway was doing was price gouging. Whenever stores launched meat sales, they raised the underlying price. In the case of “Buy 1/Get 1,” they would nearly double the price. In the case of “Buy 1/Get 2”, they would almost triple it.
So in truth, there was no “sale” at all. It was just misleading advertising aimed at tricking consumers hoping to find bargains as they tried hard to feed their families. In legal parlance, that was a blatant violation of the Oregon Unlawful Trade Practices Act.
Enter the legal team from Sugerman Dahab, an Oregon consumer rights law firm that filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of Safeway customers who had been duped by the chain. (The team at Sugerman Dahab was joined by attorneys Tim Quenelle, Eric English and Pat O’Malley of Resolution Strategies and appellate attorney Travis Eiva, who each played an important role in the stunning series of legal events that followed.)
“You are not allowed to do that. It’s not free. It’s a lie,” attorney David Sugerman, who is also a Public Justice Board Member who represented the plaintiffs in the case, told the press at the time of the filing. “You can’t sell your boneless, skinless chicken breast at $9.99 a pound, ‘Buy One Get One Free,’ when they are otherwise available at $2.89 a pound. That’s not free. That is deceptive advertising.”
Sugerman and his team assembled a case so compelling (and, according to news site VICE, so “strongly worded”) that Safeway parent company Albertsons — which has tenaciously fought other class lawsuits in the courts — agreed to settle the case last month rather than go to court.
The result? A $107 million settlement for the roughly 450,000 Safeway customers who were impacted by the stores’ deceptive advertising practices. The settlement will return $200 — the maximum provided by Oregon law — to each of those customers’ pockets. And that, in turn, will help put food on the table for families across the state.
The settlement is a vivid and powerful reminder of how class action lawsuits hold corporations accountable: When consumers and others can band together to challenge dirty tricks and deceptive practices, corporate defendants have a harder time covering up their tracks.
The settlement is a vivid and powerful reminder of how class action lawsuits hold corporations accountable: When consumers and others can band together to challenge dirty tricks and deceptive practices, corporate defendants have a harder time covering up their tracks. Unfortunately, some in Congress continue to try and wipe away such lawsuits, with some House Republicans pushing legislation that would essentially bar the courtroom doors for everyday Americans seeking to stop bad behavior that impacts their bottom line. But the truth is that, especially in times of economic hardship, families have relied on class actions to stop such behavior and receive justice — and compensation — through the courts.
Now, thanks to the continued ability of customers to do just that — and the continued, tenacious advocacy of attorneys like Sugerman and his partner, Nadia Dahab — much of the money swindled from Safeway customers is on its way back to their pocketbooks.
And that, to quote Albertsons’ own company slogan, is an actual “recipe for change.”
