Yeezy Apparel, the fashion line founded by Kanye West, will pay $950,000 to settle a lawsuit over shipping delays and false advertisement.
The lawsuit, which relates to shipping delays on the Yeezy fashion line, was put forward by the Los Angeles County District attorney’s office. The complaint alleges the company of “unlawful business conduct,” dating back to at least four years.
According to the lawsuit, Yeezy repeatedly violated a California state law that requires online shopping orders to be delivered within 30 days. If the product is delayed, the statue requires the company to either refund customers’ money, replace the goods, or provide a written notice to the customer detailing the delay.
The lawsuit alleges that Yeezy made “untrue or misleading statement” about shipping orders to a specific timelines, especially in cases where customers paid extra for expedited service.
“Online consumers are entitled to protection against unwarranted fees and unreasonably long waits for purchases to arrive on their doorsteps,” said district attorney, George Gascón, via The Guardian. “We will enforce state and federal laws governing online shopping in Los Angeles county.”
Under the settlement, the Los Angeles County district attorney said Yeezy is “prohibited from making untrue or misleading representations regarding a shipping timeframe or refund; adhere to laws relating to the issuance of delay notices; and is required to refund money to consumers who, in the future, purchase products that are not shipped in a timely fashion.”
Lauren E Willis, associate dean for research and law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, told The Guardian that it is unlikely other companies would face legal ramifications over shipping delays.
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“Although false advertising is false advertising even if the business did not know at the time that it was lying, the government is likely to concentrate its limited resources on pursuing businesses for false statements about delivery only when the government believes the business knew, or any reasonable business should have known, that the statement was false,” Willis explained.
“When a business advertises to consumers using claims it knows are false, the government needs to come in and stop it,” she said. “It is unfair to competitors that are truthfully telling consumer shoppers that their items will not arrive for a few weeks.”
