Santa Clara, CA: Walgreens is facing a consumer fraud class action lawsuit filed by a resident of Chicago who alleges the national drugstore chain wrongly charged him a 5 cent sales tax on drinks he purchased at their stores in the Chicago area.
According to the lawsuit, thousands of Walgreens customers may also have been wrongly charged the sales tax.
In 2008, a special tax placed on bottled water was brought into effect in the city of Chicago. The 5 cent sales tax excludes carbonated beverages, such as seltzer water, sparkling waters, sold under such brands as Perrier or La Croix, or soft drinks; flavored water, which would include such brands as Sobe Life Water or Vitamin Water; and mineral water or water sold by “delivery services in a container not sold with the water.”
According to plaintiff Destin McIntosh who filed the complaint, Walgreens was wrongly charging the bottled water tax on sparkling water beverages. He claims to bought sparkling water drinks from Walgreens stores in Chicago “on multiple occasions in 2015. While McIntosh did not keep his receipts from the purchases, the lawsuit claims “Walgreens’ records should demonstrate that (he) was in fact charged and paid the Bottled Water Tax.” Further, once Walgreens realized the error and by their own accounts corrected the taxation problem, the company should have refunded the allegedly improper charges to the customers who paid it. But Walgreens did not.
The complaint asserts that Walgreens’ actions concerning the collection of the tax violated Illinois’ consumer fraud law. The plaintiff seeks unspecified “actual and statutory damages,” plus attorney fees.
Detin McIntosh is represented by Joseph Siprut, of Siprut P.C., of Chicago.
