Court revives suit alleging Aeropostale committed fraud with ‘fake’ sales

An appellate panel is siding with two shoppers who say their consumer rights were violated after Aeropostale hiked prices on items before lowering them and advertising that they were on sale.

A trial judge had dismissed the claim, saying the plaintiffs had not sufficiently argued their case when they said the store acted in bad faith. But the panel of appellate judges disagreed Thursday and revived the lawsuit, calling the lower court judge’s decision “erroneous.”

Attorney Stephen DeNittis, who argued the case for the plaintiffs, said an outcome in his clients’ favor would “benefit the public as a whole.”

“If companies or retailers are going to sell products in New Jersey, they have to be honest on what the sale was based on. They can’t lie about the original price, and we hope retailers see this and know they have to offer a true, legitimate sale,” DeNittis said.

The decision describes two separate instances where shoppers said they were duped into believing Aeropostale was running a sale when, in fact, the original prices had been altered to make it appear as though customers were saving money.

In March 2021, Christa Robey bought a hoodie at the store’s Cherry Hill location that was advertised as 60% off the original price of $59.95. And in March 2020 in Paramus, Maureen Reynolds purchased a pair of pants that the store said were 50% off the original price of $36.50. Both women allege these items were never actually available at their original prices, “rendering illusory the offered discounts,” according to their complaint.

Changing an item’s $50 price tag to $100 while offering a 50% discount is “a deceptive practice prohibited by the Consumer Fraud Act” and federal law, the appellate decision says.

In New Jersey, pricing regulations say items must be sold at their original price for 28 of the prior 90 days, and federal law requires a “reasonable amount of time” at their original price.

“People aren’t really getting a sale if a retailer offers a pair of jeans for $100 one day, and then 29 bucks for the next five-and-a-half months. Then it’s not really $100,” DeNittis said. 

The next steps of the legal process are discovery, DeNittis said, and potentially seeking to file the complaint as a class action lawsuit.

“We’re very happy with the decision,” he said. “We want it to be a true sale — not a fake sale.”