A pair of California women say that they were influenced by deceptive pricing to buy items from New York & Company. That’s according to a class-action lawsuit filed this month against the online women’s clothing retailer.
Plaintiffs Kanisha Mitchell and Kim Moseley claim that New York & Company sells products at discounted prices that were never offered at the purported “regular” price. “Defendants advertise fake and inflated comparison reference prices to deceive customers into a false belief that the sale price is a deeply discounted bargain price,” they claimed in the legal complaint.
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According to the filing in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, items sold on New York & Company’s website have a market value lower than the promised regular price or even the sale price. For instance, a product valued at $30 would be advertised as having a “regular” price of $100 and being on sale at 60 percent off, allowing the company to sell a $30 item for $40.
“As a result, consumers are deceived into spending money they otherwise would not have spent, purchasing items they would not have purchased, and/or spending more money for an item than they otherwise would have absent deceptive marketing,” the suit said.
The suit claims New York & Company’s pricing violates the Federal Trade Commission Act, which prohibits “unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce.” Those practices include offering discounts on false “regular” prices and offering fake limited duration sales.
In addition, the lawsuit alleges New York & Company also violated the California False Advertising Law, which states that it’s unlawful for companies to make misleading or untrue statements about products it sells.
This is the second class-action lawsuit leveled against New York & Company this year. In June, a plaintiff filed a complaint in Virginia federal court alleging that the retailer continued to send him promotional text messages after he requested they stop.
In 2019, New York & Company was the subject of another deceptive pricing class action suit filed in California. In that case, plaintiffs accused the retailer of tricking consumers into thinking they were getting a discount by using false and misleading advertisements of “regular” prices. That case was eventually settled, with plaintiffs receiving $25 discount vouchers.
New York & Company’s parent company Saadia Group also is named as a defendant in the current suit. Saadia purchased the retailer after it went bankrupt and closed all of its brick-and-mortar locations in 2020. Since then, New York & Company has operated strictly as an online retail outlet.
Deceptive pricing lawsuits have been on the uptick this year, with complaints filed against retailers such as JCPenney, J.Crew, Foot Locker and Eddie Bauer. Nasty Gal and PrettyLittleThing owner Boohoo settled a deceptive pricing case in California for $197 million. Last month, a group of U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges tossed out a deceptive pricing suit against Old Navy, ruling the plaintiff failed to show a significant loss on purchases from the retailer.
In addition to an injunction against New York & Company to “cease the false advertising and unfair business practices,” the plaintiffs also seek damages and a jury trial for the case.
