Ralphs Hit with Class Action in California Over Allegedly Unlawful Beverage Container Recycling Fees

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Ralphs Grocery Company faces a proposed class action that claims the supermarket chain has unlawfully charged California consumers extra fees for beverages not covered by state recycling law.

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The 20-page amended complaint explains that under the state’s Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act, customers pay a California Redemption Value (CRV) fee when they purchase certain beverages packaged in aluminum, glass, plastic or bi-metal containers.

Consumers pay five cents for qualifying containers less than 24 ounces and 10 cents for containers 24 ounces or larger, and they can receive a full refund of these fees by returning empty beverages to a recycling center or other program “dealers,” the lawsuit says.

Although state law clearly lists which beverages fall under the Bottle Bill, Ralphs has unlawfully charged California shoppers CRV fees on exempted products, the filing alleges.

For example, before expansions to California’s recycling law took effect on January 1, 2024, containers holding 46 ounces or more of 100 percent fruit juice were not eligible for the CRV program, the case says. However, the plaintiff says that each time he bought Ocean Spray “100% Juice” in 64 fluid-ounce containers at two different Ralphs locations in Orange County throughout September 2023, he was nevertheless charged a 10-cent fee for what his receipts identified as “CA REDEM VAL.”

According to the complaint, a cashier at a Ralphs location in Seal Beach informed the plaintiff that the store’s point-of-sale system was automatically programmed to charge the allegedly unlawful CRV fee. The case claims that the same misconduct has occurred at “hundreds” of Ralphs supermarket locations in California.

“Based on the foregoing, Defendant has been unlawfully charging thousands upon thousands if not millions of California consumers with the Unlawful CRV on the exempted Juice for years,” the filing contends.

The lawsuit looks to represent any California citizens who purchased any CRV-exempt beverage set forth in state law and were charged a CRV fee at a Ralphs supermarket located in California.

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