MO Attorney General files motion for contempt against Walgreen Co

Koster said he wants to take Walgreens back to court so that a judge can hold the company in contempt and impose fines. Koster says the investigation began after consumers complained that display prices were less than what they paid at checkout. “We believe that your marketing system is set up in a negligent format”, Koster said during a news conference on Tuesday.

Koster said his office visited 50 Walgreen stores around Missouri from July 26 through September 1 and found expired sales tags in 49 of the stores. Hundreds of these tags were weeks past their expiration date, with two that had expired in 2013.

“More than a year ago, we entered into an agreement with the Missouri Attorney General that specifically provided for communication and cooperative efforts between Walgreens and the Attorney General’s office to ensure improved pricing accuracy across our stores”.

Koster called Walgreens actions a “flagrant defiance of the court’s order”.

The San Diego County Department of Agriculture, Weights and Measures advises consumers to double check their receipts because in 2013 it found that one out of every five stores inspected had overcharges, averaging almost $3 per error.

Under the 2014 settlement, Walgreen agreed to pay for an independent auditor to scrutinize 25 percent of the company’s stores every three months until mid-2017.

“Consumers should not have to dig through outdated and incorrect information to find the true price of an item”, Koster said in announcing his latest legal filings against the company, based in the Chicago suburb of Deerfield, Illinois. “We are not going to quit until Walgreens gets it right”.