Hermes defeats class action again over hard-to-get Birkin bags

French luxurious model Hermes has satisfied a U.S. decide to dismiss for a second time a lawsuit alleging it violates antitrust regulation by forcing patrons to spend hundreds of {dollars} on its merchandise earlier than they will buy one of many vogue firm’s famed Birkin purses.

U.S. District Judge James Donato in San Francisco on Wednesday rejected claims by three Hermes buyers in California that the corporate was suppressing competitors.

“It may be, as plaintiffs suggest, that Hermes reserves the Birkin bag for its highest-paying customers, but that in itself is not an antitrust violation,” Donato wrote in his order.

The decide dismissed the proposed class action with prejudice, which implies it can’t be refiled.

Hermes, its legal professionals and attorneys for the plaintiffs didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.

The lawsuit, filed final yr, claimed Hermes violated U.S. antitrust regulation by “tying” or proscribing purchases of its Birkin bags to prospects with a ample gross sales historical past with the corporate.

The customers referred to as the retail worth of a Birkin bag an phantasm that “masked a hidden lottery system that forces consumers to purchase substantial amounts of Hermes ancillary products to ‘qualify’ for the mere opportunity to buy a Birkin.”

Hermes and its gross sales employees “know that many of the people they induce to buy ancillary products will not in fact get a Birkin bag,” the lawsuit mentioned.

In looking for dismissal, Hermes advised Donato that gross sales of Birkin bags, that are handmade and might price hundreds of {dollars}, happen in a aggressive market.

Donato at a listening to final yr solid doubt on the claims made by the plaintiffs earlier than he dismissed an earlier model of the lawsuit. The decide advised the legal professionals for the plaintiffs that if Hermes “chooses to make five Birkin bags a year and charge a million to them, it can do that.”