Missouri attorney general seeks contempt order against Walgreens

A two-year battle over invalid price tags at Walgreens landed back in court Tuesday.

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster asked a Jackson County circuit judge to find the retailer in contempt of court under a 2014 court order. That earlier action grew out of a 2013 state investigation and lawsuit.

The state also seeks fines of $5,000 per violation of the earlier order.

Koster said in a statement that his inspectors again found hundreds of expired price tags at Missouri Walgreens stores, this time between July 26 and Sept. 1. By being expired, the tags promised prices lower than consumers might pay at the register.

State inspectors said they found expired tags at stores in Kansas City, Grandview, Lee’s Summit, Liberty, Oak Grove, Harrisonville and Platte City, as well as other parts of the state. In all, 1,306 expired tags were found.

“My office’s 2013 investigation showed a relationship between expired tags and consumers being overcharged at the register,” Koster said in the statement. “Consumers should not have to dig through outdated and incorrect information to find out the true price of any item.”

Walgreens officials could not be reached for comment. Previously, the company has said it was disappointed by the state’s actions and disagreed with Koster’s comments.

The company consented to monitoring under the 2014 order, saying then that it would allow the chain to continue business practices that were “consistent with our 113-year history of acting in our customers’ best interests.”

Koster’s call for court action comes after Walgreens paid the state $136,500 in fines for expired tags discovered under the monitoring agreement. The court order called for a $1,500 penalty for each store that failed its first inspection, $3,000 for a second failure and $5,000 for each subsequent failure.

Koster’s court filing said the 2014 agreement required Walgreens to remove any price tag with an expiration date within 12 hours after the price offer ended.

Tuesday’s court filing includes photographs stamped as being taken on Aug. 31 of clearance and other discount tags with expiration dates weeks, months and even years earlier.

For example, one “last chance” tag on soap had an April expiration date, a toy’s “hot buy!” tag had expired July 22, a Windex refill tag had expired on July 25 and a clearance tag on clothing had a 2013 expiration date.

The June 2014 settlement also allows customers who discover overcharges to receive free merchandise or gift cards under a Consumer Vigilance Award program. A customer overcharged on an item that costs less than $5 is to receive the item free, Koster’s announcement said. It said that for more expensive items involving an overcharge, the customer would pay the lowest advertised price and receive a $10 Walgreens gift card.

Koster’s office asked consumers who spot an expired tag at Walgreens to take a photograph and send it to that state using an online complaint form. Consumers also can call toll-free 800-392-8222.

This story was originally published September 22, 2015 at 3:23 PM with the headline "Missouri attorney general seeks contempt order against Walgreens."