It wasn’t worth it.
The New Jersey housewife who filed a $5 million federal lawsuit against retailer Century 21 — claiming it scammed her out of 80 cents in a coupon “scheme” — has abruptly dropped the suit, court records show.
Tova Gerson, a 32-year-old mom from Bergenfield, voluntarily dismissed her complaint Thursday, just hours after news reports of the lawsuit went viral on the Internet.
Gerson covered her face and declined comment as she arrived home in her minivan after her notice of dismissal was filed in Manhattan federal court.
In her lawsuit, Gerson claimed the name-brand discount store “unjustly enriched” itself and ripped off customers with a coupon-fraud “scheme.”
She said she used a coupon, good for $5 off a $50-or-more purchase, during a Jan. 10 shopping spree at Century 21’s Paramus, NJ store.
She plunked down a total of $106.82, before tax, for items that included faux-suede moccasins, a child’s dress, stuffed toy and little girls’ lace tights, underwear and T-shirts, according to the filing.
But then, on Jan. 19, Gerson returned a $17.97 kid’s ensemble, claiming it was the wrong color, the filing states. Century 21 refunded her money — minus the 80 cents she’d saved, on a pro-rated basis, by using the discount coupon.
Gerson, a hat designer who sells her creations from her suburban home, flipped her lid and enlisted her Long Island lawyer dad, Harry Katz, to sue on her behalf. Katz has a long history of going after retailers in federal court, filing dozens of suits in recent years.
Dick’s Sporting Goods, Casual Male and The Children’s Place are among those sued by Katz over alleged coupon “schemes.” Those suits were either dismissed or settled. Gerson, with Katz as her lawyer, also has sued Modell’s Sporting Goods over coupon issues.
Katz wouldn’t discuss the decision, with a receptionist at his Queens office saying, “He’s not available to you,” before hanging up.
Gerson’s Century 21 suit claimed the store’s take-back deprived her of the “full benefit” of the $5-off coupon.
Gerson argued that if she’d known she’d lose coupon credit on returned items, she would have purchased them separately.
The class-action suit, which named no other plaintiffs, sought at least $5 million, and contends that “hundreds or thousands” of other shoppers could also be hurt by the store’s “fraudulent . . . [and] misleading” promotion.
Century 21 did not immediately return a call for comment.
