Ralphs Settles Pricing Charges

COMPTON, Calif. — Ralphs Grocery Co. here said Friday it has reached a $1.1 million settlement with Los Angeles County and the City of Los Angeles regarding charges in 2009 that it overcharged customers on prepackaged and weighed products.

Charges included false and misleading advertising, unlawful computation of value, selling prepackaged commodities in lesser quantities than represented and false labeling.

Without admitting liability, Ralphs, a division of Kroger Co., Cincinnati, said it would pay $1 million to the offices of the L.A. district attorney and the city attorney and would donate $100,000 to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.

Read more: Ralphs, Kroger Accused of Weight Violations in L.A.

In a statement Ralphs said, "We take these matters very seriously, and any inadvertent discrepancies were corrected immediately for our customers. We have decided to put this behind us. As a judge noted back in 2010, even at that time, Ralphs had 99% accuracy on labeling and weighing its goods, as well as an impressive weights and measures and price integrity program in all our stores. Clearly, there is nothing misleading nor unfair to Ralphs' pricing, [and] Ralphs has continued to improve in this area."

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