District Attorney Pamela Price Announces Settlement Holding Safeway, Vons, Albertsons Accountable for Overcharging Customers
Companies to Pay Nearly $4 Million to Settle Civil Complaint
October 3, 2024
OAKLAND, CA — Today, Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price announced that Safeway, Albertsons, and Vons will pay $3,962,500 in a stipulated judgment to settle a civil law enforcement complaint alleging false advertising and unfair competition arising from overcharging customers. Albertsons Companies, Safeway Inc., and The Vons Companies operate 589 stores in California under the brand name banners of Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, and others. In Alameda County, there are approximately 28 Safeway stores.
The civil action and stipulated judgment were filed in Marin Superior Court. The Alameda County DA’s Office’s Consumer Justice Bureau joined the suit with the District Attorneys of Marin, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Sonoma, and Ventura counties.
The civil complaint alleges that these companies unlawfully charged customers prices higher than their lowest advertised price. Beyond the scanner violations, Safeway, Albertsons, and Vons also had issues with inaccurate weights on the labels of their products. Some items sold by weight, such as produce, meats, and baked goods, had less product in the package than was displayed on the package label. For those items, a grocer may only charge for the product’s actual weight, the packaging is not included in the overall weight.
“At a time when the price of groceries has skyrocketed, and the residents of Alameda County are struggling to put food on their tables, my office takes these allegations of false advertising and overcharging customers very seriously,” said DA Pamela Price. “I commend my office’s Consumer Justice Bureau for joining this litigation to protect consumers and ensure these companies are held accountable and follow the law.”
In 2019, inspectors from the Alameda County DA’s office conducted inspections at two Safeway stores in Castro Valley and one in Dublin and found evidence of labels with no gross or net weight for dozens of items being sold.
The judgment prohibits grocers from engaging in false or misleading advertising and requires them to implement a Price Accuracy Program. The program allows customers to be compensated up to $5 if they are overcharged. It is an incentive to encourage consumers to report false advertising to the store directly as soon as it is discovered.
The Judgment also includes an injunction that prohibits the grocers from engaging in false or misleading advertising and prohibits fourteen different unfair practices, from advertising short-weight products to failing to disclose exclusions in its “Just for U” or “Club Card” programs.
The stipulated judgment requires Safeway, Albertsons, and Vons to pay $3,213,000 in civil penalties and $649,500 in costs to cover investigation costs and support future enforcement of consumer protection laws.
The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office portion of the settlement includes $459,000 in civil penalties paid by the companies and $5,000 to reimburse the DA’s office for its investigation costs. Alameda County Department of Agriculture / Weights & Measures will receive $143,005.95 as reimbursement for its investigative costs.
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Contact: damedia@acgov.org
The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office (DAO) is one of California’s largest prosecutors’ offices and is led by Alameda County’s first Black woman District Attorney Pamela Y. Price. Price brings her vision to this office to fairly administer justice in the pursuit of thriving, healthy, and safe communities for every person who steps foot in Alameda County, no matter their race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, income, or zip code. Price has been recognized as one of the most progressive prosecutors through her forward-thinking, innovative strategies to interrupt cycles of violence and crime and bring change to a criminal justice system rooted in systemic racism. Follow Madam DA on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, and @AlamedaCountyda on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.