Investigation Could Not Support Plaintiff's Allegations On ‘Information And Belief'

Nunez v. Best Buy, Inc., No. 15-cv-03965, 2016 WL 3189197 (D. Minn. June 7, 2016)

Plaintiff alleged that he purchased a microwave for a "sale" price that was represented to be $20 less than the "regular" price, when in fact Best Buy did not ever sell the microwave at the purported regular price. Plaintiff's complaint relied on  a study by Consumers' Checkbook/Center for the Study of Services, a nonprofit organization, which tracked pricing trends on eight items sold by Best Buy. Plaintiff's claim failed under Fed. R. Civ. P. 9(b) because he did not allege the date on which he purchased the microwave at issue, the model of the microwave, the store in which he made his purchase or the particular advertising on which he relied. The court rejected plaintiff's allegations pled "on information and belief," finding that the CSS study did not provide sufficient support, as it did not include pricing details for the particular microwave plaintiff purchased. View the decision.