Sunglasses Maker Costa Del Mar Hit with Lawsuit Over Allegedly Illegal Processing Fee for Lifetime Warranties

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Costa Del Mar, Inc. is the defendant in a proposed class action filed by a consumer who claims the sunglasses brand’s supposedly “rock solid” lifetime warranty against manufacturer’s defects is unlawful because customers “must pay an illegal fee to take advantage of it.”

Filed in Florida, the lawsuit claims Costa Del Mar aggressively touts its sunglasses as being backed for life against defects by a best-in-the-industry warranty free from gimmicks and burdensome disclaimers. Despite the prominence of the defendant’s warranty in its advertising and marketing materials and product packaging, Costa Del Mar supposedly makes customers pay what the complaint alleges is an illegal $11.95 fee plus tax to take advantage of the warranty, which thereby does not afford proposed class members the ability to have defective sunglasses repaired or replaced free of charge as required by the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act (MMWA).

“As a consequence of Costa’s illegal practices, [the plaintiff] and the class members have purchased Costa sunglasses under the false impression that their sunglasses are protected for life against manufacturer’s defects at no charge to them (when Costa, in fact, requires customers to pay an illegal fee,” the case reads. “Congress passed the MMWA specifically to curb false and deceptive warranty practices, like those warranty practices employed by [the defendant].”