Harris Beach Murtha’s Ross Hofherr spoke to the Hartford Business Journal about the more than 80 consumer lawsuits filed against companies that raised prices to offset tariffs but then later received refunds from the federal government for tariff costs.
The lawsuits seek to have those refunds passed on to customers.
Ross, co-leader of the firm’s International Trade Practice Group, said that, in hindsight, companies may have been better off providing less information about why prices climbed instead of trying to be transparent about tariffs.
“As soon as you tie a price increase and a specific dollar amount to a specific event, then you have a bunch of consumers who feel as though they were wronged,” Ross said, in the article.
Hofherr said he expects companies to argue tariff increases are no different than increases in raw-material costs or other expenses and customers were not obligated to buy products at the higher prices.
“They don’t have an obligation to be selling to consumers at the lowest possible price. They can set the prices wherever they want,” he said.
The article concluded by saying Harris Beach Murtha is advising companies on both sides of these types of disputes and that advice requires close scrutiny of individual contracts.
“It’s created a pretty big mess. There’s going to be a lot of litigation coming from this,” he said.
Read the full article for more details.
