The Ninth Circuit this week agreed with the trial court that a class of customers was overcharged for online orders.
The court also agreed that Safeway did not have the right to change its contract without notifying customers. In doing so, the court upheld a $41.8 million judgment against Safeway, Inc.
The suit, filed in June 2011, alleged that while a Safeway service agreement and the company’s website advertised that the price of groceries bought online would be the same as what the delivering store charged that day, Safeway actually charged 10 percent more for groceries ordered online.
In March 2014, U.S. District Judge Jon S. Tigar certified a class of U.S. residents who registered to buy groceries through Safeway.com before Nov. 15, 2011, and made at least one purchase subject to an alleged price markup implemented around April 12, 2010.
In August 2015, Judge Tigar held that the class was to damages of about $30 million, which is the sum of what Safeway made off of a concealed markup price for groceries delivered to class members from April 2010 to December 2012. He later approved prejudgment interest of $10.9 million.
The case is Rodman v. Safeway Inc., case number 15-17390, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
