Price Comparison Class Actions Against Retailers Heat Up In New York

The common retail practice of comparing an item's current price with a higher "original," "regular," or "MSRP" price has recently come under increasing fire from consumers, who say the higher comparison price is often fictitious and misleads shoppers into believing they are getting a better bargain than they really are. Over the past two and a half years, more than 50 putative class actions have been filed in courts across the country, seeking relief under state consumer protection statutes for purchases made in reliance on these allegedly...