Lamps Plus will pay millions of dollars as part of a stipulated judgment involving false advertising and unfair competition, according to San Diego County's District Attorney.
The DA's office, along with its counterparts in San Bernardino, Riverside and Los Angeles counties, investigated and prosecuted the case, San Diego County County District Attorney Summer Stephan's office said in a news release issued on Wednesday.
There are two Lamps Plus stores in San Diego County, one on Morena Boulevard in San Diego, and on Vista Way in North County.
The settlement, signed by Riverside County Superior Court Judge Carol Greene, requires the company to pay $3.8 million in civil penalties, along with $300,000 to cover the investigative costs involving the complaint filed by the District Attorney's offices of Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties.
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The company will be prohibited from advertising any price-match guarantee policy in a false or misleading manner and offering a 120% price-match guarantee policy, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
“Civil actions like this one protect the consumer and hold corporations accountable when they fail to follow the laws in place to ensure the public is getting accurate and fair pricing information on products they purchase,” Stephan said, in part, in the news release.
The judgment was reached without Lamps Plus admitting any liability or wrongdoing. Prosecutors in Los Angeles said the company cooperated with the investigation.
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The complaint, filed Sept. 4, alleged that Lamps Plus unlawfully advertised false sales and discounts, misleading price match guarantees and deceptive comparisons of its prices to competitors since at least March 2017, according to the District Attorney's Office.
