Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy Announces Lawsuit Filed Against Levi Strauss Over Millions in Tariff Refunds the Company Has Not Returned to Customers

SAN FRANCISCO--( BUSINESS WIRE)--Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP (“CPM”) filed a class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division, against Levi Strauss & Co. (“Levi”), on behalf of a proposed nationwide class of consumers who bought Levi products at prices the company quietly raised to cover the costs of tariffs. After the Supreme Court ruled on February 20, 2026 that those tariffs were unlawful, the federal government is now refunding those tariffs with interest.

Levi has disclosed that it paid approximately $80 million in IEEPA tariffs and applied for a refund of the full amount. Asked on a July 8, 2026 earnings call what Levi would do with the money, management answered,

“We haven’t figured out what to do with it.”

Levi reported receiving $79 million in tariff refunds and $5 million in interest, which it described redeploying into the business. Other companies, including FedEx and UPS, have begun passing their tariff refunds back to the customers who paid the duties.

The complaint alleges that in April 2025, days after the broadest round of tariffs was announced, Levi’s CEO, Michelle Gass, said the company would be “surgical” with price hikes on its iconic jeans. Over the following year, Levi told investors that it was taking “targeted pricing action” to “offset the impact of tariffs.” Instead, Levi raised prices across its product catalog, including on jeans like its Ribcage Straight Ankle women’s jeans, up $10 to $108, and its original fit men’s jeans, up $5 to $84.50, without telling consumers. Levi has not returned any of it, even after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in February 2026 that the underlying tariffs were unlawful.

Starting in early 2025, President Trump used emergency powers under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (“IEEPA”) to place new tariffs on almost all U.S. imports. The IEEPA tariffs first targeted goods from nearly every country coming into the U.S., including China, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Pakistan, and Vietnam, where many Levi products are made.

The U.S. Supreme Court held that the President did not have the legal authority to impose tariffs this way and ruled that these tariffs were illegal, holding that “IEEPA does not authorize the President to impose tariffs.” Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., writing for the majority, explained that the power to impose tariffs is “very clear[ly] . . . a branch of the taxing power” that the Framers gave to “Congress alone,” and that tariffs “operate directly on domestic importers to raise revenue for the Treasury.” Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, 146 S. Ct. 628 (2026).

Because the tariffs were ruled unlawful, the government is now refunding the money, with interest, to the companies that paid them. The refunds go only to companies that paid the tariffs directly. Customers who actually covered tariff costs through higher prices at the store get nothing back from the government.

Pierce H. Stanley said, “For generations, families have trusted Levi’s for an honest pair of jeans at a fair price. Those customers paid an invisible tax that the Supreme Court has now ruled should never have been collected. The refund money exists because they paid for it. It belongs to them.”

Joe Cotchett said, “Levi told Wall Street it was raising prices to cover tariffs. Then it collected those tariffs from its customers, got back nearly $80 million from the government, plus interest, and said it hasn’t figured out what to do with it. We have. It goes back to the people who paid it.”

About Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP

Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy engages exclusively in litigation and trials and has earned a national reputation for its dedication to prosecuting or defending socially just actions. To learn more about the firm, visit www.cpmlegal.com.