Last Friday, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette announced his office is filing a lawsuit in Ingham County Circuit Court against retail gas station Great Lakes Gas & Mart LLC (Great Lakes), located in Oakland County, for its repeated violations of the Weights and Measures Act. Based on inspections by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD), which enforces the Act, the suit states that the gas station's roadside advertising displayed only the lower (cash) price for fuel, not the higher price it actually charges for customers who pay by credit.
"When a driver shops for gas, they make their buying decision based on advertised roadside prices," said Schuette. "The law is clear that when prices differ for the same grade of motor fuel, the highest price should be clearly displayed. Great Lakes continually and repeatedly deceived its customers, and now they will be held accountable for that decision."
By law, if the unit price for the same grade of motor fuel differs, for example if there is a cheaper price for paying in cash, and the sign will not accommodate displaying all prices in lettering of the same style and size, the highest price shall be displayed in lettering using the largest size of the prices that are displayed. This was not the case with Great Lakes Gas & Mart.
Great Lakes Gas & Mart is a retail gas station that sells multiple grades of gasoline, as well as diesel fuel. It has two roadside signs on which it advertises the price of fuel that it sells, one for "regular" fuel and one for diesel fuel. Both signs accommodate only one price per side even though Great Lakes offers both a cash price and a credit price for regular fuel and diesel fuel.
These violations occurred repeatedly for more than a year, with the first documented occurrence in April 2016 when an MDARD inspector conducted an audit of the retail pricing practices at Great Lakes, which revealed that Great Lakes was in violation of the Weights and Measures Act. Consumers driving by on the road only saw the lower cash price on the sign, but when they pulled up to the pump they were confronted with a higher credit price for the same grade of motor fuel.
While the violation was temporarily corrected in the presence of the inspector, multiple subsequent inspections of Great Lakes revealed continued noncompliance with the law.
After Great Lakes ignored repeated requests by MDARD to remedy the situation, MDARD referred the matter to the Department of Attorney General. The department sent a letter to Great Lakes identifying the ongoing violations of the Act documented by MDARD, and requested that Great Lakes come into compliance with the requirements for roadside signage. Subsequent inspections revealed that Great Lakes did not comply with this request. To date, Great Lakes has not paid any fines or money for its violations.
The lawsuit filed by the attorney general at the request of MDARD is seeking civil penalties, reimbursement of investigation expenses incurred by MDARD, and recovery of the economic benefit Great Lakes has received due to its violations of the Weights and Measures Act.
Published: Mon, Jul 24, 2017
