California and FTC Sue Dollar General Over Checkout Price Overcharges

California joined the Federal Trade Commission and 19 other states on Tuesday in filing a federal lawsuit accusing discount retail chain Dollar General of “long-running deceptive pricing practices” that charge shoppers higher prices at the checkout register than those displayed on store shelves and in advertisements, according to an Associated Press report published by ABC7 News.

Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee—near Dollar General’s corporate headquarters in Goodlettsville, outside Nashville—the complaint alleges that the company failed to correct widespread register overcharges despite “extensive corporate knowledge of the problem.”

FTC Consumer Protection Warning and Participating States

“Dollar General has betrayed the trust of millions of American consumers and imposed significant financial harm on communities and consumers who are already struggling to make their paychecks last,” wrote Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.

Alongside the FTC and California, the 20 participating state plaintiffs are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, and Wisconsin. Dollar General did not immediately return a request for comment from The Associated Press.