A federal judge in San Francisco has ordered Safeway to pay almost $42 million to customers nationwide who bought groceries from the market chain’s website and were unaware that they were being charged 10 percent above store prices.
U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar granted $30.9 million in damages and $10.9 million in interest Monday to online shoppers who had registered with Safeway.com between 2006, when the website opened, and November 2011, when the company reworded its policy to declare that online prices “may differ from your local store.”
Safeway did not send notices of the change to pre-November 2011 customers, who can seek refunds of at least some of the surcharges they paid after that date. Tigar has not said how many customers will be eligible for refunds or how they can apply, details that may be worked out in future hearings.
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