Ohio sues Family Dollar, alleging deceptive pricing

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost on Monday filed a lawsuit against Family Dollar for allegedly charging higher prices for goods at the register than at the shelf.

The suit, filed in Butler County, Ohio, comes just days after Yost’s office took legal action against Family Dollar parent Dollar General over similar allegations.

“We’re looking not just for reimbursement, but we want a court order to make them stop doing this and to put adequate controls in place so that the price you see on the shelf is the price that they charge at the register,” Yost said in a statement. “I’m optimistic that we’ve got a good case and we’re going to get justice.”

Dollar General did not immediately respond to a WGB request to comment on the lawsuit.

Last month, Butler County Auditor Roger Reynolds said all 20 Dollar General stores there were surveyed by officials from the county’s weights and measures department. At some stores, investigators found that nearly 88% of items were more expensive at checkout then the price on the shelf.

In his latest lawsuit, Yost seeks a permanent injunction to stop Family Dollar from ringing up items at incorrect prices. He also seeks to fine the company $25,000 for each alleged infraction, while also asking the company to pay damages to all affected consumers.

“Consumers are damaged when they pay prices higher than the advertised price, whether they realize the pricing difference at the point of sale or not,” the lawsuit said.

In 2019, Dollar General was forced to pay $1.75 million to Vermont for violating the state’s Consumer Protection Act after the retailer was found to charge higher prices at the register than those posted at the shelf, “even after being told at least 50 times by state inspectors from the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets to correct the pricing inaccuracies,” the state said in a statement at the time.

On Nov. 1, Yost filed a lawsuit against Dollar General after receiving deceptive pricing complaints from multiple counties.

“Everything we buy these days costs more —Ohioans can ill-afford businesses that draw people in with the promise of low prices only to deceive them at the checkout counter,” Yost said in a statement. “This seems like a company trying to make an extra buck and hoping no one will notice. We’ve not only noticed but are taking action to stop it.”