A Discussion of Major Lawsuits Faced by Sears Roebuck and Co

Though their catalogue has been referred to as the "Consumer's Bible," as a company it does not have a perfect relationship with consumers or its employees. A number of high profile lawsuits over the company's long and storied history have brought a fair amount of negative attention. This article will discuss some of the major lawsuits that Sears has had to deal with.In November of 2000, Sears agreed to pay eleven million people in its credit card program almost one hundred and sixty million dollars to settle a class action lawsuit. The concern was over interest rates that had increased even though Sears had originally claimed they would not.

The situation occurred when Sears transferred the cards to a subsidiary. In this situation it was clear that Sears had a lack of communication with its subsidiary and paid the price. Reference Article.

A class action lawsuit was prepared in December of 2004 that said that Sears, Roebuck and Co had shown false advertising and consumer fraud by saying that the Craftsman tool line is "Made in the USA" The idea behind the suit was that by printing this on the labels to their products they were creating a false sense of patriotism and quality. In fact, the parts on the tool in question came from china, the Indian subcontinent, Mexico and Denmark. Reference Article.Currently there is an class action lawsuit being prepared against Sears regarding its Whirlpool Colypso washer. Apparently the Kenmore Elite Calypso and Whirlpool Calypso washing machines have electronic and mechanical problems. There are issues that cause the clothes to be washed improperly and be ruined.

Reference Article.Any company as large as Sears is bound to be hit by the occasional lawsuit. Though the above lawsuits do show a certain amount of legal entanglement in the company, it does not show that the company received a disproportionately large amount of legal claims.

Tom Samus is a retired legal clerk and writer for Go-Shop.info. He is a father of two children and husband of Clara Parks.

By: Tom Samus