Over the past four years in California alone, consumers have brought more than eighty class actions alleging that retailers collected sales taxes on exempt items. Yesterday, the California Court of Appeal dealt what should be a fatal blow to these class action claims. In Loeffler v. Target Corp., the Second District Court of Appeal held that the California Constitution and state laws preclude consumers from asserting civil class action claims against retailers based on the alleged improper collection of state sales tax. Although numerous trial courts throughout California had previously allowed this type of claim to go forward, the ruling in Loeffler ends this practice.

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