Class Action Slams ‘Fake’ Michael Kors Outlet Store Discount Prices

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Michael Kors LLC was slammed with a class action lawsuit last week accusing the clothing company of tricking customers into believing they were purchasing discounted clothing items at Micheal Kors factory outlet stores by using fictitious “original” retail prices.

Lead plaintiff, California resident Tressa Gattinella, alleges in the Michael Kors class action lawsuit that a pair of jeans she bought at a Michael Kors outlet store in California at a supposed 33% discount were not actually meant to ever be sold for $120.00 as the price tag indicated.

“Michael Kors misrepresented the existence, nature and amount of price discounts on products manufactured exclusively for Kors Outlet,” the plaintiff alleges in the class action, “by purporting to offer steep discounts off of fabricated arbitrary, and false former process.”

The plaintiff further alleges that the price tags of its Kors Outlet Products, which contain a Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Prices (“MSRPs”) “were artificial, arbitrary and did not represent a bona fide price at which Michael Kors formerly sold Kors Outlet Products.”

The plaintiff argues she would not have purchased the pair of jeans for their actual full retail price of $79.99, and Michael Kors tricked her into paying more by its deceptive advertising.

The Michael Kors class action lawsuit claims that the practice of falsely advertising clothing at a supposed discount violates California’s comparative price advertising laws and constitutes fraud because they were not the advertised MSRP’s prevailing market retail prices within three month immediately preceding the publication of the advertised former prices, as required by California law.

“In fact, Michael Kors manufactures certain goods for exclusive sale at its Kors Outlets which means that such items were never sold – or event intended to be sold – at the ‘MSRP’ price listed on their labels.” The class action lawsuit also alleges that Michael Kors’ practice of “fictitious pricing” violates Federal Trade Commission regulations.

The plaintiff summarizes her allegations in the Michael Kors outlet class action lawsuit by saying, “Michael Kors fraudulently concealed from, and intentionally failed to disclose to, Plaintiff and others similarly situated, the truth about its MSRP prices and advertised price discounts from those supposedly former prices. Michael Kors’ false representations of MSRPs and false representations of purported savings, discounts and bargains are objectively material to a reasonable consumer.”

The Michael Kors class action lawsuit is brought on behalf of “all individuals in the State of California who, within the applicable statute of limitations preceding the filing of this action, purchased apparel from a Kors Outlet store.”

The plaintiff is seeking a Court injunction on the practice and to have Michael Kors pay customers back any profits it made from the sale of clothing at its factory outlet stores as well as any funds the plaintiff deems unjust enrichment from the practice.

The lead plaintiff, Tressa Gattinella, is represented by the Law Offices of Wayne Kreger and Jason Alperstein, Jeffrey M. Ostrow and Scott A. Edelsberg of Kopelowitz Ostrow PA.

The Michael Kors Factory Outlet Store Class Action Lawsuit is Gattinella v. Michael Kors (USA) Inc., et al., Case No. 1:14-cv-05731, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

UPDATE: On June 6, 2016, Top Class Actions viewers who submitted timely and valid claims for the Michael Kors settlement began receiving checks worth as much as $170.04.