Pharmacists convict Leclerc for misleading advertising … and launch class action

No turnaround for the Leclerc group. The famous supermarket chain was ordered on appeal to pay 30,000 euros in damages to the Union des Groupements de Pharmaciens d’Officine (UDGPO) for facts dating back to 2017. That year, Leclerc had launched a advertising campaign on the Internet and in its stores ensuring that “each of the E. Leclerc drugstores is under the responsibility of one or two doctors of pharmacy”. At the time, this collective in the service of pharmacists had a bailiff draw up a report against the company Galec (Groupement d’Achats des Centers Leclerc) for unfair competition and false advertising. To defend himself, Leclerc had provided a bailiff’s report certifying that a doctor of pharmacy was present in 225 of the 256 drugstores, or 88%.)

The case was subsequently brought before the Commercial Court of Créteil which considered that the communication made by Leclerc on the presence in “each of its drugstores” of a doctor in pharmacy was “misleading”. Leclerc was therefore ordered on December 3, 2019, at first instance, to pay 30,000 euros to the UDGPO in damages as well as 5,000 euros in legal costs. According to the court, Leclerc was not able to prove the actual presence of pharmacy doctors and their availability for the delivery of advice to clients, which was however promised by the sign in its advertising campaign. This sum was paid during the month of December 2019, the judgment being enforceable on this point.

Leclerc appealed against this decision. The Paris Court of Appeal confirmed on December 3, 2021 the decision taken by the Créteil court at first instance. In addition to the 30,000 euros in damages already paid, Leclerc will also have to pay the sum of 5,000 euros for appeal costs.

The UDGPO will launch a collective action procedure against Leclerc

But the UDGPO does not intend to stop there! Contacted by Capital, the pharmaceutical union now intends to launch a group action procedure: “This appeal decision allows us to initiate a Class Action * procedure without Leclerc being able to oppose it, says Laurent Filoche, president of the UDGPO. It will allow the 2,000 pharmacies located near a Leclerc drugstore to join a joint complaint in order to obtain compensation for this moral and economic damage ”. The union already allows pharmacies to register on its website.

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If Laurent Filoche is delighted with this court decision, he remains unsatisfied: “The conviction does not go to the end of what we wanted at first instance. Leclerc was to communicate the court decision on his Facebook page following the trial, for a period of 3 months. This decision was not retained on appeal. “

Leclerc therefore escapes the wall of shame, but his quarrels with the law do not seem to be over in this affair. Contacted by Capital, the group “does not wish to comment on this court decision”.

* The group action (or “class action”) is a procedure which allows several consumers, victims of the same damage caused by the same professional, to collectively take legal action to obtain compensation for this mass damage . Class action was extended to healthcare litigation through a law passed in 2016.