Amazon is being sued by consumers in California who claim the internet giant is price-gouging in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.

A class action lawsuit filed by Hagens Bergman Sobol Shapiro LLP alleges Amazon should be liable for third-party and primary listings on its platform. In the lawsuit, plaintiffs compare average prices over a previous three month period to coronavirus-era prices starting in early February, claiming they have increased by more than 10%. The lawsuit cites pricing on face masks, cold remedies and black beans as evidence, ignoring evidence that supply and demand shift dramatically during disasters and pandemics and that Amazon does not set prices of its third-party vendors.

According to news reports, Amazon maintains that it continues to monitor prices and removes offers that violate its policies. “We are disappointed that bad actors are attempting to take advantage of this global health crisis and, in addition to removing these offers, we are terminating accounts and working directly with states attorneys general to prosecute bad actors and hold them accountable,” an Amazon representative said.

—Source: law.com