A class action law firm has filed a lawsuit against Coles and Woolworths over allegedly dubious sales prices.
Sydney-based firm GMP Law filed the lawsuit in the Federal Court on Thursday and says consumers who sign up could get refunds ranging from $200 to $1,300.
“We believe this class action is an essential step in safeguarding consumer rights and demanding transparency in retail practices across Australia,” said GMP Law president Gerard Malouf.
The case arises from the national consumer protection body’s lawsuit against Coles and Woolworths separately.
However, Malouf says that consumers who join his company’s case “could be entitled to a refund of between $200 and $1,300 or more, depending on their shopping habits and their purchases at these retailers.”
‘GMP Law is committed to holding these retailers accountable and will seek refunds for affected consumers.
“The proposed legal action aims to recover the price difference between the allegedly illusory discounted price and the original undiscounted price.”
The firm said consumers who join will not be charged legal fees unless the case is successful.
A Coles spokeswoman told NewsWire that Coles would defend the ACCC case and that the company had not been formally notified of the GMP case. Woolworths declined to comment on Thursday.
GMP Law and another class action firm, Carter Capner Law, began gathering evidence about Coles and Woolworths in September when the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission announced it was suing the two major supermarkets.
The ACCC alleged that the two major supermarkets temporarily increased prices by at least 15 per cent before each of them placed more than 200 products with discount promotional labels at higher prices than before the increase.
When Coles said it would defend the case, Woolworths said it would “carefully review the claims”.
When asked on Thursday about the latest court action, a Coles spokesperson pointed NewsWire to comments the Coles Group chairman made at the company’s annual general meeting on Tuesday.
Chairman James Graham told shareholders that last year Coles was involved in nine federal government, state government and ACCC reviews of different aspects of the supermarket industry.
Australian shoppers could receive a refund of between $200 and more than $1,300 if they join the class action (pictured, a shopper in a Coles meat section)
Coles Group chairman James Graham (pictured) told shareholders this week the company will defend the ACCC case.
“In all cases we have provided information to assist those carrying out the review,” Mr Graham said.
The time period the ACCC is suing over relates to a period of significantly high inflation and rising supplier costs for Coles, the company says.
From March 2019 to June 2024, a food basket in Australia increased by 24 per cent, the ACCC found. But that increase was eclipsed in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, the United States and Canada, where average food inflation in the OECD reached 35 percent.
But the ACCC, and now two law firms, are monitoring the behavior of both supermarkets for more than a year until May 2023.
The other class action firm that is compiling a case, Carter Capner Law, announced Wednesday that it was seeking “class representatives” from each state to join the suit and attach its name to the court cases, to be the lead petitioner and attend court hearings.