Posted on 11/14/2004 2:35:20 PM PST by freepatriot32
NEW YORK (Nov. 14) -- For some New Yorkers, a shoe sale is an incidental thing, a chance to pick up a pair of loafers, or rummage through racks of heels. For Lorraine Koppell, shoes are a matter worth suing over.
Ms. Koppell, a lawyer and the wife of G. Oliver Koppell, a city councilman and a lawyer himself, is part of a class-action lawsuit filed in Manhattan Civil Court this month. Her adversary is Bloomingdale's.
The suit, filed by a neighbor who went to the same Bloomingdale's sale, claims that the store misled shoppers in a sale flier last month that offered 35 percent to 40 percent off shoes in its "enormous" fall collection. In fact, only a small portion of the shoe collection was sale-priced, according to the suit, which was first reported last week in The Daily News.
The shoe-sale skirmish began on Oct. 29, when Mrs. Koppell went after work to Bloomingdale's in White Plains, said Mr. Koppell, who is representing the plaintiffs in the suit with his wife. She and her neighbor Anita Morganstern had received the flier in the mail.
"She told me that morning, 'Look, they're having this great shoe sale at Bloomingdale's,' '' Mr. Koppell said of his wife. "She happens to be a shoe fancier. She likes Bloomingdale's shoes. She got the card in the mail, and she was quite excited about it."
But after going to the sale, according to the suit, the women quickly realized that it was "a fraudulent scheme" involving "misleading, deceptive and unfair statements and omissions." After hearing his wife's complaints about the sale, Mr. Koppell said, he sent his secretary to a Bloomingdale's in Wayne, N.J. His secretary told him that only 10 percent to 20 percent of the shoes from the collection were on sale there, he said.
"There were many, many women who were really upset," Mr. Koppell said.
The focus might have simply been shoes, but the frustration soon hardened into a lawsuit.
"I don't think it's frivolous in the least," Mr. Koppell said, referring to the suit. "People who advertise things should be required to come across with what they advertise."
The suit argues that the simplest and cheapest solution would be for Bloomingdale's to reopen the sale.
A spokeswoman for Bloomingdale's said yesterday that the company does not comment on pending litigation.
The court originally gave Bloomingdale's until last Friday to file its response to the suit, but the deadline has been extended another week, Mr. Koppell said. The store's lawyers have been in talks with Mr. Koppell, trying to come up with a solution, he said.
It's nice to know that in a world filled with petty problems and petty issues, there still are one or two that can grab the attention of the world.
I don't know about grabbing the attention of the world, but these nitwits have made sure their frivolous lawsuit about their petty problem clogs up the legal system, and that is an issue that warrants our attention.
HHahahhhhaaa.... this is great. I owned 253 pairs of shoes. Some of them dated back to the 60's.
Then my daughter started wearing my size.....
THERE.... THERE are no republicans....
Sorry. That just makes me nuts.
I'm female, and I don't worry about "issues" such as this either.
You sound just like my wife! My poor girl has two daughters raiding her closet to contend with.
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