L.L. Bean suedover return policy

L.L. Bean Inc. is facing a breach of warranty lawsuit after changing its decades-old lifetime warranty.

The complaint, filed this week in Chicago federal court, seeks class-action status.

The company said its returns policy was never meant to be an infinite replenishment method. It determined that about 15 percent of all recent returns were abusive, a rate that had doubled over the past five years. Such returns cost it around $250 million during that period, the company said.