Old Navy Sued Again Over Fake Sale Prices After Paying Close to Half a Billion in Prior Settlements

Old Navy is being sued again for allegedly making up sale prices — the same thing the company has already paid close to half a billion dollars to settle.

A new class action lawsuit filed April 8 in San Francisco County Superior Court alleges Old Navy slaps inflated "reference prices" on nearly all of its merchandise so everything looks like it's on sale. According to the complaint, the sale price is actually just the regular price. The discount isn't real.

The lawsuit was filed by a California shopper who says she bought a pair of jeans at her local Old Navy for $41.99, advertised as 30% off a $59.99 reference price. A screenshot from the Wayback Machine taken nearly six months later allegedly showed the exact same jeans still listed at $41.99 — still marked as 30% off.

Before filing the lawsuit, the plaintiff's attorneys reportedly used Microsoft's price-tracking software to monitor randomly selected items on Old Navy's website. According to the complaint, none of the tracked items were ever sold at their advertised reference prices. One pair of jeans listed at $54.99 allegedly never exceeded $22 over a seven-month window.

This isn't Old Navy's first time dealing with this exact accusation. The complaint highlights two prior lawsuits alleging the same pricing scheme. The first settled in 2019. The second settled in 2022 for up to $340 million in purchase vouchers to a class of roughly 34 million customers. Together, those settlements totaled close to half a billion dollars — and according to this new lawsuit, Old Navy kept doing it anyway.

The case brings three claims under California law: unfair business conduct, false advertising, and false statements about price reductions. Under California's False Advertising Law, businesses are required to base any "former price" used for a discount on a price they actually charged within the past 90 days.

There is no settlement, no claims process, and no money available at this time. The lawsuit is pending in San Francisco County Superior Court. Gap has not filed a formal response.

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