Walmart to Pay $1.37 Million to Santa Clara County

<p>Walmart&comma; the largest retailer in the United States&comma; will pay &dollar;5&period;6 million to settle a consumer protection lawsuit alleging the retail giant overcharged customers and sold products&comma; such as produce&comma; baked goods&comma; and other prepared items&comma; with less weight than shown on the label&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The civil complaint&comma; filed by a team of district attorney’s offices including Santa Clara County&comma; alleged that the retailer unlawfully charged customers prices higher than their lowest advertised or posted price&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>These actions violate California’s False Advertising and Unfair Competition Laws&period; Walmart operates 280 stores in California&comma; including 10 in Santa Clara County&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This is not the first time Walmart has been in trouble for similar issues&period; In 2012&comma; the company paid &dollar;2&period;1 million for overcharging consumers in violation of a 2008 judgment against the retail chain&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Walmart reached the latest settlement with the Santa Clara County&comma; San Diego County&comma; San Bernardino County&comma; and Sonoma County district attorney’s offices&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;When someone brings an item to the register to be scanned&comma; the price must be right&comma;” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;They expect it&period; California expects it&period; My Office expects it – and we will apply the law to make sure of it&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The court ordered Walmart to pay &dollar;5&period;5 million in civil penalties for the violations in this case&comma; and to maintain employees who will be responsible for price and weight accuracy in California stores&period; Walmart will also pay &dollar;139&comma;908&period;92 to cover the costs of the investigations conducted by various Weights and Measures departments in the state&period; Santa Clara County will receive &dollar;1&comma;375&comma;000&period; The penalties will go to the Santa Clara County DA’s Consumer Protection fund&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The investigation of Walmart’s pricing and weight accuracy violations was assisted by inspectors from the Santa Clara County Weights and Measures Division&comma; the Division of Agriculture and the Department of Environmental Health&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;