On Tuesday, two California residents filed a proposed class action lawsuit against Hermès in San Francisco. In the complaint, they accuse the company of holding back the coveted bag for all but the highest-spending customers, a practice that, the plaintiffs argue, violates antitrust law. One plaintiff is already the owner of at least one Birkin bag, but was thwarted in her attempt to buy a second.

The lawsuit says that she “has spent tens of thousands of dollars at Hermès, and had been coerced into purchasing” other Hermès items, described as “ancillary products,” before she was given a chance to buy a Birkin bag. The second plaintiff, a male, had no luck when he tried to buy a Birkin bag, the suit says. An Hermès sales associate instructed him “to purchase other items and accessories” at the store before he would be considered as a potential customer for the much sought-after item, according to the suit.

A new Birkin bag retails for upward of $10,000; vintage examples have fetched as much as $450,000 at auction.

At the heart of the lawsuit is the practice of “tying” — that is, the selling of a certain item to customers on the condition that they buy another product from the same business.

Nan says she has not listed the plaintiff’s names because she wants to avoid shaming them, in case anyone feels critical of that much spending in a world significantly  hungry and homeless.  Maybe she’s just jealous?