While technically Urban Outfitters is the company being sued, the customer filing the lawsuit is actually angry over something that happened at a Free People store (a subsidiary of Urban Outfitters). Confusing, I know. So how are the people at Urban Outfitters offending customers this time? According to reports, a shopper was asked for her zip code upon checkout at a Free People store and then later sent the Free People catalog using that zip code. What can we say? Unwanted junk mail really gets people fired up.
Lauren Miller, the customer involved, says that she was asked for her zip code even though the debit card she was using didn't require that information. And now she's filing a class action lawsuit against Free People and, therefore, Urban Outfitters.
According to the suit, the "plaintiff and class members suffered damages, including the invasion of their privacy and the profit or other economic benefit that Free People obtained from the misappropriation of [their] personal identification information."
Now, while this all seems a little ridiculous to me (I mean, it's just a catalog full of pretty boho goddesses and crocheted sweaters? Right?), Urban Outfitters isn't exactly a stranger to lawsuits. In 2012, the Navajo nation sued the company for it's use of the Navajo name of certain products. And just a couple months ago in March, Harley-Davidson sued Urban Outfitters for a similar reason.
Clearly, Urban Outfitters is not viewed favorably by, well, a lot of people. Unlike past lawsuits, though, this new lawsuit seems sort of, well, frivolous. And it all seems very far-fetched, if we're being honest. It's junk mail, not copyright infringement.
Who has time to go through their junk mail, let alone go to court over it? Either way, it will be interesting to see how the case plays out, as Urban Outfitters doesn't seem to have the best of luck when it comes to legal affairs.
