Retail & E-Commerce

  • February 26, 2025

    COVID Plausible Cause For Tire Price Hikes, Judge Says

    Consumers, dealerships and other tire purchasers will need more than claims of pretextual explanations for price hikes by Bridgestone, Goodyear, Michelin and other producers after an Ohio federal judge dismissed the "unsupported conclusion" that the pandemic doesn't explain their claims of consolidated price fixing.

  • February 26, 2025

    Fuel Co. Trustee Accuses Ex-Owners Of $100M Buyout Fraud

    The founders and former majority owners of the bankrupt fuel distributor Mountain Express Oil Co. were hit with a lawsuit by the company's trustee Monday alleging that they took nearly $100 million out of the business through a bogus stock buyout that pushed it to the brink of insolvency.

  • February 26, 2025

    Joann To Wind Down Operations After Judge Approves Plan

    A Delaware bankruptcy judge on Wednesday approved renowned fabric and crafts retailer Joann Inc. to wind down its operations after a "global consensus" was reached among the debtor, lender and creditors committee, allowing the 80-year-old chain to hold going-out-of-business sales.

  • February 26, 2025

    38 AGs Push For Crackdown On Organized Retail Crime

    A bipartisan coalition of attorneys general from 38 states and territories is urging Congress to take legislative action against organized retail crime, warning in a new letter that the problem has reached unprecedented levels and is straining state enforcement resources.

  • February 26, 2025

    Party City Approved To Sell IP, Assets For $20.6M In Ch. 11

    A Texas bankruptcy judge on Wednesday blessed retailer Party City's bid to sell its brand name and other intellectual property to an affiliate of pop culture merchandiser Ad Populum for $20.6 million, rejecting a challenge to the deal by franchise owners that claimed the buyer was ill-equipped to take on contracts with their stores.

  • February 26, 2025

    Dollar Tree Reaches Deal To Exit Manager's FMLA Suit

    Dollar Tree struck a deal to resolve a former manager's lawsuit accusing the company of interfering with her rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act when she asked to take time off to care for her disabled son, a filing in Pennsylvania federal court said.

  • February 25, 2025

    Retailer Pushes To Ax 2,400 Web Tracking Arbitration Claims

    Children's clothing retailer Janie & Jack LLC is attempting to stave off more than 2,400 arbitration claims filed by individuals over the company's allegedly unlawful website tracking practices, telling a California federal court that the website visitors are "weaponizing" an arbitration agreement that doesn't even apply to them. 

  • February 25, 2025

    Walgreens Inks $595M Deal To End COVID-19 Testing Suit

    Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. has agreed to pay $595 million to a lab testing and diagnostics company to put to rest a dispute over COVID-19 tests, according to a Monday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

  • February 25, 2025

    GreenSky Loan Class Action Certified In Calif. Court

    A California federal judge has granted class certification to consumers suing GreenSky Inc. over alleged unlawful loan transaction fees, finding that expert analysis showed merchants likely passed these fees onto borrowers, but also granted summary judgment to the lending company on claims related to performance fees over the lack of evidence that consumers had to pay them.

  • February 25, 2025

    9th Circ. Won't Revive Consumers' Qualcomm Antitrust Suit

    The Ninth Circuit Tuesday declined to revive cellphone buyers' antitrust suit against Qualcomm, backing a California district court's rejection of the consumers' claim that Qualcomm's policy of refusing to sell chips to cellular manufacturers that did not license its patents ran afoul of California antitrust law.

  • February 25, 2025

    WestRock Blamed For Toxic Vapors In Worker's Injury Suit

    The WestRock packaging company has been hit with a negligence suit in Washington federal court by a worker who claims exposure to fumes from a chemical spill while doing repairs at a Pacific Northwest paper mill caused him to suffer a collapsed lung and later be diagnosed with a tumor.

  • February 25, 2025

    GoDaddy, Tech Co. Quietly Agree To Kill Antitrust Suit

    The world's largest domain registrar, GoDaddy, has come to terms with the company behind an antitrust suit claiming that it blackballed the tech company from its platform, according to documents filed recently in Virginia federal court.

  • February 25, 2025

    Meta Says 9th Circ. Shouldn't Touch Antitrust Cert. Denial

    The Ninth Circuit should refuse to take up the appeal of a proposed class that was denied certification due to its novel theory that Meta Platforms Inc. would have been forced to pay users for the use of their data if it hadn't lied about how it was using it, the social media behemoth has told the court.

  • February 25, 2025

    Kroger Seeks More Sanctions For Prolific Consumer Atty

    Kroger is urging an Illinois federal judge to sanction prolific consumer advocate lawyer Spencer Sheehan for filing a meritless suit over the effectiveness of its lidocaine patches, citing his "history of filing frivolous lawsuits across the nation" and a "troubling pattern of recklessness and abuse of the federal judiciary" for which he has been sanctioned three other times.

  • February 25, 2025

    Petrochemical Cos. Want Judge Out Of Plastic Recycling Row

    Petrochemical companies called on a Missouri federal judge to recuse himself from a proposed class action accusing them of misleading customers about the recyclability of plastic, saying his wife has a direct interest in the case as a Kansas City city council member.

  • February 25, 2025

    FTC Wins Discovery Spat In Amazon Prime Subscription Suit

    A Washington federal judge won't force the Federal Trade Commission to share with Amazon discussions during past rulemaking about the scope of a federal law protecting online shoppers from deceptive billing, concluding for a second time that such information is irrelevant to whether the company's Prime subscription practices are illegal.

  • February 25, 2025

    5th Circ. Asks NLRB To Back Up Coercion Claim Against Apple

    A Fifth Circuit panel asked the National Labor Relations Board to spell out how Apple Inc. was coercive to a worker during a unionization push in New York, pondering Tuesday whether affirming the board's finding would tamp down on the company's freedom of expression.

  • February 25, 2025

    Agri Stats Can't Avoid Price-Fixing Deposition, DOJ Says

    The U.S. Department of Justice is calling on Agri Stats' top executives to face deposition in the agency's price-fixing case, telling a Minnesota federal judge that the company's brass can't avoid questioning just because they were deposed in private suits years ago.

  • February 25, 2025

    Referral Co. Barred From $5.54B Swipe Fee MDL Settlement

    A New York federal judge has blocked a referral partner of a claims filing service from any role in the $5.54 billion settlement of long-running multidistrict litigation accusing Visa and Mastercard of charging improper merchant fees, after the referral partner allegedly improperly used class member information to submit claims.

  • February 25, 2025

    Patent Exec Says Starbucks Is Liable For Atty's Statements

    A patent-licensing company executive pushed back on Starbucks Corp.'s attempt to exit his defamation lawsuit over statements from counsel for Starbucks, arguing the Florida federal court has jurisdiction partly because the executive lives in the district.

  • February 25, 2025

    Vape Cos. Want To Stop Iowa Law Banning Some E-Cig Sales

    A group of vape companies and users is again asking an Iowa federal court to block a state law banning the sale of some e-cigarette products, saying it is preempted by federal law and the Constitution.

  • February 24, 2025

    Injury Attys Sanctioned Over AI-Hallucinated Case Citations

    A Wyoming federal judge overseeing a personal injury lawsuit against Walmart sanctioned the plaintiffs' attorneys from Morgan & Morgan PA and the Goody Law Group after they filed pretrial motions containing case law hallucinated by artificial intelligence, but acknowledged Monday their "remedial steps, transparency and apologetic sentiments."

  • February 24, 2025

    Bigelow Says Class Trial Is On 'Road To Nowhere'

    Counsel for R.C. Bigelow Inc. urged a California federal judge Monday to call off an upcoming class action damages trial over the tea-maker's "manufactured in the USA" labels, saying the proceeding would be a "road to nowhere" because of fatally flawed sales data.

  • February 24, 2025

    Baby Bottle Cos. Get Parts Of Microplastics Suit Tossed

    Parents who sued Philips over allegations that microplastics leach from its "BPA free" baby bottles and sippy cups saw their lawsuit partially trimmed, after a California federal judge said that the company's label isn't misleading because it doesn't promise the products are "devoid of all harmful plastic."

  • February 24, 2025

    Bezos Satellite Co. Seeks To Block His Paper In Docs Dispute

    A satellite facility launched by Jeff Bezos' Amazon wants a preliminary injunction to partially block Washington state's labor department from releasing records to the Bezos-owned Washington Post, arguing that the photos and documents are exempt under the state's public records law because they would expose sensitive trade secrets.

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • Series

    Playing Ultimate Makes Us Better Lawyers

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    In addition to being fun, ultimate Frisbee has improved our legal careers by emphasizing the importance of professionalism, teamwork, perseverance, enthusiasm and vulnerability, say Arunabha Bhoumik and Adam Bernstein at Regeneron. 

  • Key Legal Considerations After Supply Chain Disruptions

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    After U.S. supply chain disruptions — like the recent port workers' strike, and Hurricanes Helene and Milton — stakeholders should look to contractual provisions to mitigate losses, and keep in mind that regulators will be watching closely for unfair shipping practices, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • How Property Insurance Coverage Shrank After The Pandemic

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    Insurers litigating property claims are leveraging rulings that provided relief in the COVID-19 context to reverse the former majority rule on physical loss or damage in all contexts, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Metadata

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    Several recent rulings reflect the competing considerations that arise when parties dispute the form of production for electronically stored information, underscoring that counsel must carefully consider how to produce and request reasonably usable data, say attorneys at Sidley.

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