Costco Beats Claims of Unlawful Gas Price Matching in Wisconsin

Costco Wholesale Corp. didn’t violate a Wisconsin sales law when it lowered its gasoline prices to match competitors’, a unanimous federal appellate court held Tuesday.

A dozen Green Bay, Wis., area gas stations brought a class action against Costco, alleging the big box store violated the Wisconsin Unfair Sales Act by selling below-cost unleaded motor vehicle fuel at one of its Wisconsin warehouses in an effort to illegally induce shoppers to buy Costco gas and other items. Costco claimed it monitored competitor prices and lowered its own gas prices only to match a competitor’s price, a lawful act.

The US ...