July 3 (Reuters) - Walmart ( WMT ) must face a lawsuit

claiming it often charges higher prices at the register than it

posts on store shelves, costing consumers hundreds of millions

of dollars a year, a federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday.

Reversing a lower court judge, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of

Appeals in Chicago said consumers could try to prove in their

proposed class action that the conduct of the world's largest

retailer was a fraudulent "bait-and-switch" that violated

several states' consumer protection laws.

It also rejected Walmart's ( WMT ) argument that providing receipts

after purchases negated any unfairness caused by inaccurate

shelf prices.

Circuit Judge David Hamilton wrote for a three-judge panel

that it was "neither unreasonable nor fanciful" for consumers to

believe Walmart ( WMT ) would charge the prices displayed on shelves.

Walmart ( WMT ), based in Bentonville, Arkansas, and its lawyers did

not immediately respond to requests for comment. The named

plaintiff, Yoram Kahn, is from the Cleveland area.

Lawyers for the consumers said they found price

discrepancies in Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, New

Jersey and New York, as well as in North Carolina even after a

regulator there fined Walmart ( WMT ) in 2022 for price-scanning errors.

The lawyers said most discrepancies were small - one Walmart ( WMT )

in New Jersey charged $3.64 for Crisco Pure Canola Oil versus

the $3.12 shelf price, while another charged $2.48 for Hershey's

Chocolate Syrup versus the $2.33 shelf price - but that they

added up fast.

Hamilton said consumers cannot be expected to always keep an

eagle eye at checkout, where they might be distracted by young

children, tabloid headlines, pulling out their wallets or

bagging their merchandise.

Nor, he said, is it reasonable to force consumers to keep

track of shelf prices, whether by memory or by creating a

record, as they shop.

"Who does that?" he wrote.

The appeals court returned the case to U.S. District Judge

Sara Ellis in Chicago, who dismissed it in March 2023.

"We are pleased with the opinion and look forward to

vindicating the rights of Walmart ( WMT ) customers," said Stanley

Bernstein, a lawyer for the plaintiffs.

The case is Kahn v Walmart Inc ( WMT ), 7th U.S. Circuit Court of

Appeals, No. 23-1751.