Washington Attorney General Nick Brown sued Albertsons in April 2026 over its “buy one, get one free” promotions, and the Albertsons BOGO lawsuit alleges the grocery chain raised prices before running the deals so the “free” item wasn’t really free. Filed April 27, 2026, in King County Superior Court, the complaint names Albertsons Companies, Inc., Albertson’s LLC, and Safeway, Inc., which operate the Albertsons, Safeway, and Haggen banners in the state. The state says the practice ran for nearly five years, touched more than three million transactions, and generated about $19.7 million for the company.
How the Alleged Scheme Worked
According to the complaint, stores would raise the base price of a product in the weeks or months before a BOGO promotion. During the deal, customers paid the inflated price for the first item and received a second one “free.” Within about 30 days of the promotion ending, the price dropped back to where it had been. On the state’s reading, shoppers paid a premium for the first item and got nothing free.
The complaint gives a specific example from a Gig Harbor Albertsons. A bottle of olive oil that normally sold for $6.99 was raised to $10.99 for a BOGO promotion, a 57 percent increase. After the deal ended, the price returned to $6.99. Other products named include bread, cereal, and fresh produce, with examples spanning 2020 through early 2023.
The Scale and the Statutes
Across the period from October 2019 through May 2024, the state alleges the company overcharged consumers on at least 3,190,584 transactions, generating roughly $19,671,244 in revenue from those deals.
The suit cites two Washington statutes. The Consumer Protection Act bars unfair or deceptive practices in commerce. A separate price-misrepresentation law makes it illegal to display prices “calculated or tending to mislead” shoppers. The attorney general argues both apply to the pricing pattern described in the complaint.
What Washington Is Asking the Court to Do
The attorney general is seeking a permanent injunction to stop the pricing practice, full restitution to affected consumers including disgorgement of what the state says the company improperly collected, civil penalties for each individual violation of the two statutes, prejudgment interest, and reimbursement of the state’s legal costs.
With more than 3.1 million transactions identified as violations, per-violation civil penalty exposure could be significant. No dollar figure for penalties has been set by the court.
The case is in its early stages. No hearings, rulings, or settlement agreements have been publicly reported.
Albertsons’ Response
In a statement issued the day the suit was filed, an Albertsons spokesperson said the company “strongly disagree[s] with its claims, which are based on flawed analysis and data errors that we identified and raised.” The company said it had “engaged in good-faith discussions with the Attorney General’s Office” before the suit was filed but could not resolve the dispute. Albertsons added that it is “committed to complying with the law and to offering customers clear value through our promotions” and would “address the matter through the legal process.”
Earlier BOGO Cases Against Albertsons
Washington’s suit is not the first time Albertsons has faced BOGO allegations. The attorney general’s office has pointed to the earlier cases as evidence the company was on notice that the practice could violate consumer protection laws.
In Oregon, shoppers filed a class action in 2016, Stewart et al. v. Albertsons Companies, Inc. (Case No. 16CV15125), accusing Safeway and Albertsons of inflating prices on fresh meat products sold under BOGO and “buy one, get two free” promotions between May 2015 and September 2016. The company agreed to a settlement reported at $107 million, with eligible class members entitled to $200 payments. Albertsons did not admit wrongdoing.
A proposed class action filed in Washington federal court in 2023 alleged deceptive BOGO promotions at Washington stores. That case was settled. A related individual lawsuit in Kitsap County was dismissed in federal court by agreement in June 2024, according to reporting by the Spokesman-Review. Albertsons did not admit wrongdoing in the federal settlement. A separate federal BOGO lawsuit in California reportedly remains active.
A Separate California Pricing Case
One case sometimes grouped with the BOGO litigation is actually about something else, and it’s worth flagging so the two don’t blur together. In October 2024, Albertsons settled a false-advertising and overcharging action brought by district attorneys from seven California counties, including Riverside, Los Angeles, and San Diego, in Marin County Superior Court. Those allegations were that Albertsons and its Vons subsidiary charged customers more than the lowest advertised price and labeled products with weights that included packaging rather than just the food. That is a scanner and labeling case, not a BOGO case.
The company paid about $3.96 million, split between $3.2 million in civil penalties and $749,500 in costs and restitution, without admitting wrongdoing. The settlement required Albertsons to hire an independent auditor for three years, add employee training on price accuracy, and maintain a policy compensating customers up to $5 when overcharged. Prosecutors noted the company had allegedly failed to comply with a similar price-accuracy injunction dating to 2014.
What Shoppers Should Know
No restitution process exists yet in the Washington case. The complaint asks the court to order restitution and disgorgement, but any consumer payments would depend on how the litigation resolves. Shoppers who bought BOGO items at Albertsons, Safeway, or Haggen in Washington between October 2019 and May 2024 fall within the transaction window the state has identified. Until the court rules or a settlement is announced, there is nothing to file and no claim form to submit.