Suits Claim Groupon Expiration Dates Violate Federal Laws

The would-be class action suits challenging Groupon’s expiration dates continue to pile up.

The latest suit was filed yesterday in federal court in Washington, D.C., according to The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times. It contends Groupon’s daily deals are gift certificates that can’t expire for at least five years under federal law.

The suit was filed on behalf of a man who paid $20 for a free one-month gym membership valued at $305. The deal expired before he tried to redeem it two months later, the story says.

Washington, D.C., lawyer Charles LaDuca represents the plaintiffs. He told The BLT that similar class actions are pending in Illinois, Minnesota, California and Florida federal courts. LaDuca seeks class action status, despite Groupon’s terms and conditions that bar such suits.

After the settlement of a Chicago lawsuit last year, Groupon began allowing consumers with expired deals to get refunds for the amount they paid, Business Week reports in a story on the Minnesota lawsuit filed on Tuesday.