Depot's turn to win 4x4 ruling
Judge dismisses a case, citing common sense in the dimensional lumber aisle.
Even though a 4x4 doesn’t measure exactly 4 inches, not many customers are confused by the labeling of dimensional lumber in Home Depot, said U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman. With that, the judge dismissed the case – Abramov vs. Home Depot.
That’s the same Mikhail Abramov who brought a similar deceptive-advertising case against Menards in September. That case brought a similar result in favor of the retailer.
Home Depot successfully argued that a ruling for Abramov would “ignore nearly a century of standardization and disturb an entire industry's reliance on these lumber names."
The judge added that a 4x4 label did not include a unit of measure, and was therefore not explicitly incorrect.
Home Depot spokesman Stephen Holmes told HBSDealer the company was pleased with the resolution of the case.
Among Abramov’s complaints were that the “Defendant regularly advertises for sale dimensional lumber products through instore shelf tags and signage, labels, and flyers, which contain inaccurate and false product dimensions that do not correspond to the actual dimensions of the products being advertised.” In other words, a 2x4 doesn’t measure 2x4.
The judge said very few consumers might have been confused by the disparity.
In the Menards case, Judge Edmond Chang seemed even less willing to buy the plaintiff’s argument. “No reasonable consumer would think that the labels showed the exact dimensions of the lumber,” he ruled at the time.
That’s the same Mikhail Abramov who brought a similar deceptive-advertising case against Menards in September. That case brought a similar result in favor of the retailer.
Home Depot successfully argued that a ruling for Abramov would “ignore nearly a century of standardization and disturb an entire industry's reliance on these lumber names."
The judge added that a 4x4 label did not include a unit of measure, and was therefore not explicitly incorrect.
Home Depot spokesman Stephen Holmes told HBSDealer the company was pleased with the resolution of the case.
Among Abramov’s complaints were that the “Defendant regularly advertises for sale dimensional lumber products through instore shelf tags and signage, labels, and flyers, which contain inaccurate and false product dimensions that do not correspond to the actual dimensions of the products being advertised.” In other words, a 2x4 doesn’t measure 2x4.
The judge said very few consumers might have been confused by the disparity.
In the Menards case, Judge Edmond Chang seemed even less willing to buy the plaintiff’s argument. “No reasonable consumer would think that the labels showed the exact dimensions of the lumber,” he ruled at the time.
