Lawsuit Says Walgreens Wrongfully Charged The Hugely Unpopular Pop Tax

By Stephen Gossett in News on Aug 8, 2017 3:56PM

When it finally arrived, the rollout of the pop tax was marked by confusion and reported mis-applications of the surcharge—which probably didn't help how overwhelmingly unpopular the new policy is with consumers. Now one shopper who says he was wrongly charged is taking Walgreens to court with a class-action lawsuit.

Schaumburg man Vince De Leon filed suit against the company after it applied the penny-per-ounce tax to a case of Dasani Tropical Pineapple Sparkling Water, even though the packaging states it is unsweetened, according to the lawsuit. The suit cites other apparently incorrect applications of the charge, including at a Walgreens in Western Springs (for a case of Dasani Black Cherry Sparkling Water) and one in Chicago (on a bottle of Lipton Pure Leaf Unsweetened Green Tea).

Walgreens also continued to wrongfully charge on unsweetened drinks even after copping to the mistake, the suit claims.

The suit alleges, according to the Tribune:

"Walgreens has publicly admitted it is wrongly charging the pop tax on unsweetened beverages — and yet it continues to do so without informing customers that they are being wrongly charged. Despite knowing that it has improperly coded its products, Walgreens has not taken any steps to provide corrections at the cash register."

Even away from the alleged Walgreens blunders, the pop tax has proven to be notably unpopular so far in the early going. More than 86 percent of respondents in a recent poll disapprove of the tax on pop. ("Pop," not "soda.") The backlash has been so strong that at least one would-be challenger to County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is reportedly now floating the idea of running against her.

This post has been updated.