US judge allows Amazon Covid-era price gouging lawsuit to proceed

A US national tribunal has refused Amazon’s question to disregard a projected class-action suit accusing the retailer of charging excessive prices for indispensable goods during the Covid-19 pandemic.

US District Judge Robert Lasnik ruled that claims brought nether Washington user extortion laws were sufficiently wide erstwhile applied to pricing practices and could encompass the alleged conduct.

Seattle-based Hagens Berman managing spouse Steve Berman said: “This is simply a important triumph for consumers who allege that Amazon made billions successful excess profits during the pandemic.”

In his decision, Lasnik said it was tenable to infer that Amazon took vantage of pandemic conditions erstwhile nationalist wellness restrictions and proviso disruptions constricted user prime and imposed unfair prices connected definite goods.

The ailment alleges that prices connected a scope of products sold done Amazon’s level surged, including a 1,044% summation for toilet paper.

It besides cites hikes of 1,523% for acold remedies and up to 1,800% for immoderate look masks.

Lasnik noted that interior Amazon documents suggested the institution was alert of what constituted terms gouging and had told authorities attorneys wide that it was seeking to curb specified behaviour.

In an bid dated 5 January, helium wrote that plaintiffs had plausibly alleged that “Amazon exploited susceptible consumers who turned to Amazon arsenic a lifeline for user goods and nutrient items during a nationalist wellness crisis, accumulating immense and unjust profits”.

The tribunal besides issued abstracted rulings blocking respective subpoenas served by Amazon, uncovering that they appeared intended to harass oregon embarrass the people representatives.

Lasnik said that “the tenable inference is that Amazon is trying to marque this litigation arsenic difficult, burdensome, and perchance embarrassing arsenic imaginable for the named plaintiffs’ closest associates”.

The suit was archetypal filed connected 21 April 2020 and seeks compensation for consumers who paid what are described arsenic “unfair” prices for nutrient and different user goods purchased connected Amazon betwixt 31 January 2020 and 20 October 2022, astir the play erstwhile Washington and different states lifted Covid-related states of emergency.

The projected people includes individuals who bought user oregon nutrient items categorised arsenic exigency goods during the play and whose prices were allegedly acceptable astatine unfair levels.

The tribunal said the nonstop determination of which prices were unfair would beryllium addressed aft the completion of find and adept assessment.

Retail Insight Network has contacted Amazon for a comment.

"US justice allows Amazon Covid-era terms gouging suit to proceed" was primitively created and published by Retail Insight Network, a GlobalData owned brand.