Retail & E-Commerce

  • March 19, 2025

    MLM Cosmetics Co. Doesn't Pay Any Wages, Stylist Says

    A multilevel marketing company illegally classifies stylists as independent contractors, thus forcing them to foot the bill for promoting the company's products, and only pays workers a commission and for recruiting more stylists, a lawsuit filed in California state court said.

  • March 19, 2025

    Law360 Announces The Members Of Its 2025 Editorial Boards

    Law360 is pleased to announce the formation of its 2025 Editorial Advisory Boards.

  • March 18, 2025

    Quaker Oats Beats Pesticide Suit As Judge Cites EPA Limits

    An Illinois federal judge threw out a putative class action Tuesday accusing Quaker Oats Co. of misleadingly marketing its products as healthy despite the presence of pesticides, saying the chemical levels identified in the case are far below the limits set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

  • March 18, 2025

    Amazon Asks To Claw Back Docs In Consumer Antitrust Suits

    Amazon has asked a Washington federal court to allow it to claw back three documents it has deemed as privileged from consumers in a trio of proposed antitrust class actions, saying that the plaintiffs are refusing to return or destroy them after quoting them in their motion for class certification.

  • March 18, 2025

    PVC Pipe Giant's Top Brass Sued For Hiding Price-Fix Scheme

    PVC pipe maker Atkore Inc.'s top executives and board members were hit with derivative claims Tuesday for allegedly shielding the company's participation in a pandemic-era price-fixing scheme, just days after investors sued the company and three executives for the same alleged conduct.

  • March 18, 2025

    J&J Denies 'Evil Motive' In Face Of $30M Talc Damages

    Johnson & Johnson did not act with the kind of "evil motive" that would justify a $30 million punitive damages award to a Connecticut man who won a lawsuit alleging its talc products caused his lung cancer, the company argued Tuesday in state court.

  • March 18, 2025

    Vans Facility Subjected Employees To Extreme Heat, Suit Says

    A former Vans sneaker distribution center in Southern California made employees work in unventilated rooms that would reach over 100 degrees, an employee who worked at the facility for 16 years has alleged in a new lawsuit filed in California state court.

  • March 18, 2025

    Google, Apple Urge 9th Circ. To Reject Search Collusion Case

    Google and Apple are urging the Ninth Circuit to reject an appeal from an advertiser seeking to revive a case accusing Google of paying Apple to stay out of the search market, arguing that a ruling in the government's search case against Google has nothing to do with the claims.

  • March 18, 2025

    E-Commerce Co. Defendant Fights FTC Asset Freeze

    A defendant who says he was wrongfully caught up in a Federal Trade Commission action halting the operations of e-commerce platform Click Profit for allegedly duping users with its AI-powered system told a Florida federal judge he should not be subject to an asset freeze, as he divested his interest in the company well before the allegedly false statements were made.

  • March 18, 2025

    Fanatics, Sports Leagues Accused Of Trading Card Monopoly

    A Texas man has filed a proposed class action against Fanatics, the NBA, the NFL and MLB, alleging that they have conspired to monopolize the market for player trading cards by executing long-term, exclusive licensing contracts and then using market dominance to stifle competition.

  • March 18, 2025

    Apple Attempts To Hide Discovery Are 'Systemic,' Epic Says

    Epic Games is pushing a California federal judge to punish Apple for its "sanitized, fictional account" of compliance with an injunction blocking App Store anti-steering policies, arguing the iPhone-maker can't evade discovery sanctions by trying to blame the scale of document review.

  • March 18, 2025

    Court OKs Alderman's Constitutional Claim In Hemp Raid Row

    A Mississippi federal judge on Tuesday ruled that a city alderman can pursue his constitutional claim against county officials stemming from a raid on a hemp product store during which he was detained and briefly jailed.

  • March 18, 2025

    FCC Dem Starks To Step Down This Spring

    The longest-serving Democrat on the Federal Communications Commission, Geoffrey Starks, said Tuesday he will resign the post sometime this spring.

  • March 18, 2025

    10th Circ. Pokes Holes In Walmart's Defenses In Bias Suit

    A talkative Tenth Circuit panel seemed inclined Tuesday to revive a Walmart employee's lawsuit alleging he was discriminated against for being gay, as the court's chief judge appeared incredulous that evidence of slurs and other derogatory comments being thrown around the workplace weren't enough to sustain his harassment claim.

  • March 18, 2025

    NJ Retailer Settles Suit Over Ammo Sold To Undercover Cops

    A Garden State firearms retailer has agreed to establish procedures to make sure that it does not sell guns to unauthorized people, under a court-ordered settlement with the New Jersey attorney general.

  • March 18, 2025

    Amazon Denied Quick Appeal For E-Book Antitrust Claims

    A New York federal court denied Amazon's request to immediately appeal a district court's refusal to toss a proposed class action accusing it of monopolizing the e-book market, saying the e-commerce giant just disagrees with the decision.

  • March 18, 2025

    Curaleaf Cos. Say Illegal Contract Nixes Farm's $32M Verdict

    Curaleaf units that lost a $31.8 million trial in January are urging a Michigan federal court to wipe out the verdict, saying the contract at issue violates federal law, warranting either a judgment as a matter of law or a new trial.

  • March 18, 2025

    Forever 21 Moves Ahead With Swift Ch. 11 Plans

    Fast-fashion retailer Forever 21 on Tuesday secured a Delaware bankruptcy judge's approval for motions that put it on track to close more than 300 stores and emerge from its second Chapter 11 in June.

  • March 18, 2025

    NLRB Judge Won't Issue Bargaining Order At Mo. Starbucks

    Starbucks violated the National Labor Relations Act once during Workers United's organizing drive at a Missouri store, but the violation wasn't severe enough to have caused the union's loss in a representation election, a National Labor Relations Board judge said, rejecting board prosecutors' request for a bargaining order.

  • March 18, 2025

    Bank Groups Push For Permanent Block On Ill. Swipe Fee Law

    Banking industry groups moved late Monday to deliver a final blow to an Illinois state law that bans swipe fees on tax and tip portions of payment card transactions, asking a Chicago federal judge to go ahead and finish off the ban before it takes effect this summer.

  • March 17, 2025

    Yeti Escapes Suit Over Third-Party Info Sharing

    A California federal judge has freed Yeti from a woman's proposed class action accusing the cooler and drinkware company of disclosing people's personal and financial information to a payment processor without consent, saying the woman's now twice-amended complaint didn't fix problems the court had previously highlighted.

  • March 17, 2025

    Poppi Buyers Ink $8.9M Deal Over 'Gut Healthy' Soda Claims

    A group of Poppi-brand soda consumers asked a California federal judge Friday to greenlight an $8.9 million proposed settlement that would resolve consolidated false advertising claims alleging the beverage company misleadingly touted its products as "prebiotics for a healthy gut."

  • March 17, 2025

    Kroger Shakes Calif. Suit Over Interception Of Website Chats

    A California federal judge has refused to hold The Kroger Co. liable for a third party's allegedly unlawful eavesdropping on Kroger website users' chats, in a ruling that the grocery chain's counsel predicted could have a "wide impact" on the crush of state wiretapping litigation currently flooding the courts.

  • March 17, 2025

    Judge Axes Bid To Recoup Short-Swing Profits In Novel Ruling

    A New York federal judge has ruled in a matter of first impression that sporting goods company Clarus Corp. cannot recoup $57 million in short-swing profits a trading firm made from a series of transactions because the high-volume trades fit an exemption for market-making activities.

  • March 17, 2025

    Singaporean Tech Co. Inks $46M Investor Settlement

    Singaporean tech conglomerate Sea Ltd. has reached a $46 million settlement to end a putative securities class action over investor statements that allegedly downplayed massive losses to its video game and e-commerce divisions, according to a filing in Arizona federal court.

Expert Analysis

  • Key Points From New Maritime Oil Price Cap Advisory

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    The Price Cap Coalition's updated advisory regarding the maritime oil industry's compliance with the Russian oil price cap highlights the role of governmental authorities, additional areas warranting due diligence and the need for training programs, say attorneys at Miller & Chevalier.

  • NLRB One-Two Punch Curbs Employer Anti-Organizing Tools

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    The National Labor Relations Board’s recent decisions in Siren Retail and Amazon, limiting employer speech about the impact of unionization and outlawing captive audience meetings, severely curtail employers' arsenal of tools to combat an organizing campaign — though this may soon change under a new administration, say attorneys at Benesch.

  • Best Practices For Influencer Trademark Protection

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    Though the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board recently decided that an influencer couldn't qualify for a retail services trademark registration for posting affiliate links to a third-party website, there are other trademark protections that influencers can pursue for their branding and marketing services, say attorneys at Nixon Peabody.

  • Takeaways From Final Regulations For China Investment Ban

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    ​The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s final rule banning U.S. investment in emerging Chinese technology clarifies some key requirements, includes additional exceptions for covered transactions and attempts to address concerns that the rule will put U.S. businesses at a competitive disadvantage, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • Series

    Circus Arts Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Performing circus arts has strengthened my ability to be more thoughtful, confident and grounded, all of which has enhanced my legal practice and allowed me to serve clients in a more meaningful way, says Bailey McGowan at Stinson.

  • Recent Listeria Outbreaks Hold Key Compliance Lessons

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    Listeria outbreaks in ready-to-eat foods from Boar's Head and other companies, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Food and Drug Administration responses to these outbreaks, should be closely evaluated from an overall compliance and risk management perspective by food manufacturers, retailers and industry investors, say attorneys at Kirkland.

  • 3 Ways To Train Junior Lawyers In 30 Minutes Or Less

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    Today’s junior lawyers are experiencing a skills gap due to pandemic-era disruptions, but firms can help bring them up to speed by offering high-impact skill building content in bite-sized, interactive training sessions, say Stacey Schwartz at Katten, Diane Costigan at Winston & Strawn and Lauren Tierney at Freshfields.

  • What Cos. Can Learn from Water Microplastics Class Actions

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    Class actions against companies whose bottled spring water allegedly contains microplastics, challenging claims such as "natural" and "100% spring water," seem to be drying up — but these cases serve as a good reminder to other businesses to review regulatory standards, and carefully vet plaintiff allegations at the outset, say attorneys at Keller and Heckman.

  • The Bar Needs More Clarity On The Discovery Objection Rule

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    Almost 10 years after Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 34 was amended, attorneys still seem confused about what they should include in objections to discovery requests, and until the rules committee provides additional clarity, practitioners must beware the steep costs of noncompliance, says Tristan Ellis at Shanies Law Office.

  • Series

    Being A Navy Reservist Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Serving this country in uniform has not only been one of the greatest honors of my life, but it has also provided me with opportunities to broaden my legal acumen and interpersonal skills in ways that have indelibly contributed to my civilian practice, says Phillip Smith at Weinberg Wheeler.

  • So You Want To Move Your Law Practice To Canada, Eh?

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    Google searches for how to move to Canada have surged in the wake of the U.S. presidential election, and if you’re an attorney considering a move to the Great White North, you’ll need to understand how the practice of law differs across the border, says David Postel at Henein Hutchison.

  • A Look At 2024 NIL Rights And Economies In College Sports

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    Permutations in the arena of name, image and likeness affecting collegiate athletics have continued unabated this year, and practitioners and industry representatives should anticipate significant activity at schools and continuing legal changes at the state level, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

  • Unpacking CFPB's Unwieldy Buy Now, Pay Later Guidance

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    Both the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent interpretive rule regarding buy now, pay later transactions, and its FAQ guidance, place providers in murky waters with the unenviable position of attempting to place a square, closed-end product in a round, regulatory framework meant for open-end products, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • Patent Marking Steps After Fed. Circ. Opens Lanham Act Door

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    Following the Federal Circuit’s recent ruling in Crocs v. Effervescent, which seemingly revives private actors’ ability to bring false patent marking claims under the Lanham Act, marketing and legal teams should be careful to avoid advertisement language that implies nonexistent patent rights, says Jeffrey Ratinoff at Spencer Fane.

  • Promoting Diversity In The Selection Of ADR Neutrals

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Choosing neutrals from diverse backgrounds is an important step in promoting inclusion in the legal profession, and it can enhance the legitimacy and public perception of alternative dispute resolution proceedings, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

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