Retail & E-Commerce

  • December 04, 2024

    Block's Tax Refund Should Be Voided, Atlanta Tells Ga. Court

    A Georgia trial court erred when it found that Block, the financial services and mobile payments company, was due a $330,000 occupation tax refund from the city of Atlanta, a lawyer for the city told an appellate panel Wednesday.

  • December 04, 2024

    Ace Hardware Looks To Nail Screw-Selling Rival Over TM Use

    Ace Hardware Corp. said Tuesday that a home improvement chain sharing the Ace name is watering down its decades of name recognition and goodwill while creeping in on Ace's turf and leading confused consumers astray.

  • December 04, 2024

    Consumers Agree To Throw Out Diaper Genie False Ad Case

    A group of consumers who claimed Diaper Genie ads falsely advertised that the products' refill packs contained a year's worth of diapers have dropped their proposed class action in a joint motion filed with brand owners Angelcare and Playtex.

  • December 04, 2024

    DC AG Says Amazon Covertly Slowed Delivery In 2 ZIP Codes

    The District of Columbia attorney general sued Amazon on Wednesday, accusing the e-commerce giant of surreptitiously withholding the high-speed delivery services promised by its Prime membership from certain D.C. neighborhoods.

  • December 04, 2024

    'Patriotic' Marketplace PublicSquare Raises $36M Stock Sale

    The money-losing owner of self-described patriotic marketplace PublicSquare bolstered its balance sheet Wednesday through a $36 million registered direct offering guided by two law firms, one day after it named Donald Trump Jr. to its board of directors.

  • December 04, 2024

    Potent Cannabis Oils Violate Ill. Laws, Suits Say

    Four proposed classes are suing several cannabis product makers and sellers, alleging that products made with Rick Simpson Oil and other potent types of cannabis oils go far beyond Illinois' and other states' legal limits, and the companies fail to warn customers that they're illegal.

  • December 04, 2024

    Avon Cleared To Sell To Parent Co. For $125M In Ch. 11

    A Delaware bankruptcy judge on Wednesday said he would approve a settlement between Avon Products Inc. and Brazilian parent company Natura that clears the way for the beleaguered cosmetics giant to sell itself to Natura for $125 million.

  • December 04, 2024

    Oracle Can't Seek Fla. Tax Refunds Without Repaying Clients

    Oracle can't obtain refunds for Florida state and local taxes that it improperly collected on sales of electronically delivered software to three businesses because the company didn't reimburse those customers first, a state appeals court ruled Wednesday.

  • December 04, 2024

    Legal Clouds Part For 2 Who Assisted In Cannabis Fraud Case

    A Manhattan federal judge on Wednesday allowed a pair of New Jersey business partners to avoid prison for aiding in a scheme to siphon portions of $14 million raised for a cannabis-infused consumer products company, crediting their cooperation with prosecutors.

  • December 03, 2024

    Ex-Apple Workers Accused Of Swiping Charity Match Funds

    A Northern California district attorney's office on Tuesday unveiled charges against six former Apple Inc. workers accused of scheming to convince their employer to match thousands of dollars in nonexistent donations to children's charities, according to an announcement from the office.

  • December 03, 2024

    Antitrust Judge Rips Apple's 'Meritless' Doc Privilege Claims

    Apple fought uphill Tuesday to convince a California federal magistrate judge that it properly withheld 57,000 documents from Epic Games due to attorney-client privilege in their antitrust fight, with the judge eventually telling its lawyer, "I disagree with everything you're saying, and the fact you're making these meritless arguments causes me concern."

  • December 03, 2024

    Pizza Chain Insurer Owes Share Of Salmonella Deal, Suit Says

    An insurer told a Washington federal court that a Liberty Mutual subsidiary must contribute to a settlement reached by their mutual insured, a "take 'n' bake" pizza restaurant, arising out of allegations that customers purchased raw cookie dough tainted with Salmonella bacteria.

  • December 03, 2024

    Former Officials Target DOJ, FTC Position In Epic V. Google

    The U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission drew criticism Tuesday from former officials who targeted the agencies' stance on Google's Ninth Circuit fight against the mandated opening of the Android Play Store, with the officials warning in an amicus brief against "compulsory sharing obligations."

  • December 03, 2024

    J&J's Neosporin Forever Discolored Man's Groin, Suit Says

    Johnson & Johnson and its consumer health spinoff were sued in California state court over claims that Neosporin antibiotic ointment badly infected a Los Angeles man's scrotum and permanently discolored his groin.

  • December 03, 2024

    AmEx Loses Arbitration Bid Due To 'Ironic' Unpaid $17M Bill

    A Rhode Island federal judge on Monday rejected sending a proposed antitrust class action over American Express Co.'s swipe-fee rules back to arbitration after the company refused to pay arbitration fees totaling $17 million, observing that AmEx's actions created its own "ironic dilemma: a credit card company not paying its bills."

  • December 03, 2024

    Microsoft Asks FTC Watchdog To Look Into Leaked Probe

    A Microsoft deputy general counsel on Tuesday asked the Federal Trade Commission's inspector general to look into whether commission management improperly told a news outlet that the FTC had opened a broad antitrust investigation of the tech giant.

  • December 03, 2024

    Partner Of Ex-Abercrombie CEO Denies Guilt, Gets $10M Bail

    The romantic partner of former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Michael Jeffries was released on $10 million bond Tuesday after pleading not guilty in New York federal court to charges he helped operate a prostitution and trafficking ring that preyed on male models.

  • December 03, 2024

    Google Wants Ad Tech Claims In Texas Heard By Judge, Not Jury

    Google is pushing to have the Texas-led antitrust case targeting its digital ad technology tried to a judge instead of a jury, saying state enforcers are not entitled to have a jury decide whether the company violated the law or what penalties should be imposed if it did.

  • December 03, 2024

    Attys For Sears Ex-CEO, Appraisal Camp Clash In Chancery

    A lawyer for Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores' former top fiduciary told a Delaware vice chancellor on Tuesday that case law does not support carving out stockholder proceeds from a fiduciary breach settlement in order to pay shareholders whose separate appraisal lawsuit was foiled by SHOS' bankruptcy.

  • December 03, 2024

    Insurer Says No Coverage For Fishery's $2M Water Damage

    An insurer told an Arizona federal court it owed no coverage to a seafood company embroiled in underlying litigation over more than $2 million in water damage, saying the fishmonger's splashing at its rental property wasn't accidental and its polices weren't in effect at the time.

  • December 03, 2024

    Judge Trims Fraud Claims From Mead Johnson Formula Suit

    An Illinois federal judge on Monday partially granted a bid by Mead Johnson to toss a class action alleging at least seven types of infant formula it sold contained undisclosed heavy metals, throwing out some warranty and fraud claims and claims related to products the lead plaintiff didn't purchase, but allowing the rest of the complaint to move forward.

  • December 03, 2024

    9th Circ. Affirms Circle K's Win In Gas Pricing Row

    The Ninth Circuit upheld Circle K Stores' win against retail gas stations that accused the convenience chain of setting high gas prices in bad faith, finding Tuesday that Circle K's prices were "within the range" of those charged by its competitors and lower than at least one refiner.

  • December 03, 2024

    Tech Giants Seek Firm's Communications With Elusive Client

    Apple and Amazon want Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP to turn over texts and emails with a client who disappeared from a putative class action against the tech giants, to determine whether the plaintiff consented to the case continuing in his absence.

  • December 03, 2024

    Nike Drops $4M Damages Bid In Air Jordan Knockoff Suit

    Nike has dropped its bid for $4 million in damages from a small clothing company and its founder, who were blocked by a New Jersey federal judge last month from selling knockoffs of the brand's iconic Air Jordan 1 High sneakers.

  • December 02, 2024

    Trial Begins In Trader Joe's Vendor's Fight With Poultry Supplier

    Employees of a poultry producer cracked vulgar jokes about the quality of the meat while packaging raw chicken tainted with bone fragments, a Washington-state grocery store vendor told a federal jury on Monday, blaming the meatpacker for the demise of the Chili Lime Chicken Burgers previously made exclusively for Trader Joe's.

Expert Analysis

  • 2nd Circ. Provides NY Pathway For Fighting Foreign Infringers

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    A recent decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit provides a road map for expeditiously obtaining personal jurisdiction in New York against foreign trademark infringers based on a single purchase of counterfeit goods, meaning the Second Circuit could now be the preferred venue for combating foreign infringement, says Jeffrey Ratinoff at Spencer Fane.

  • Challenge To Ill. Card Fee Law Explores Compliance Hurdles

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    A recent federal lawsuit challenging an Illinois law that will soon forbid electronic payment networks from charging fees for processing the tax and tip portions of card transactions, fleshes out the glaring compliance challenges and exposure risks financial institutions must be ready to face next summer, says Martin Kiernan at Amundsen Davis.

  • Recent Securities Cases Highlight Risks In AI Disclosures

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    Increasing public disclosure about the use and risks of artificial intelligence, and related litigation asserting that such disclosures are false or misleading, suggest that issuers need to exercise great care with respect to how they describe the benefits of AI, say Richard Zelichov and Danny Tobey at DLA Piper.

  • Opinion

    This Election, We Need To Talk About Court Process

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    In recent decades, the U.S. Supreme Court has markedly transformed judicial processes — from summary judgment standards to notice pleadings — which has, in turn, affected individuals’ substantive rights, and we need to consider how the upcoming presidential election may continue this pattern, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • Series

    Playing Diplomacy Makes Us Better Lawyers

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    Similar to the practice of law, the rules of Diplomacy — a strategic board game set in pre-World War I Europe — are neither concise nor without ambiguity, and weekly gameplay with our colleagues has revealed the game's practical applications to our work as attorneys, say Jason Osborn and Ben Bevilacqua at Winston & Strawn.

  • New Law May Move Calif. Toward Fashion Sustainability

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    California’s recently signed Responsible Textile Recovery Act seeks to increase sustainability innovation in the fashion industry, but it could also create compliance hurdles for brands, especially smaller fashion houses that do not have ample resources, say Warren Koshofer and Maggie Franz at Michelman & Robinson.

  • Antitrust In Retail: Why FTC Is Studying 'Surveillance Pricing'

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    The Federal Trade Commission's decision to study targeted "surveillance pricing" should provide greater clarity into the nature of the data aggregation industry, but also raises several issues, including whether these practices are in fact illegal under any established interpretations of U.S. antitrust law, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Mental Health First Aid: A Brief Primer For Attorneys

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    Amid a growing body of research finding that attorneys face higher rates of mental illness than the general population, firms should consider setting up mental health first aid training programs to help lawyers assess mental health challenges in their colleagues and intervene with compassion, say psychologists Shawn Healy and Tracey Meyers.

  • Series

    Collecting Art Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The therapeutic aspects of appreciating and collecting art improve my legal practice by enhancing my observation skills, empathy, creativity and cultural awareness, says attorney Michael McCready.

  • The Trade And Tax Issues Behind US-Canada Digital Tax Clash

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    The new Canadian digital services tax recently went into effect despite objections from the U.S., a controversy that represents an unusual mix of trade and tax policy, and many companies have been pondering how it will affect their e-commerce businesses, says Damon Pike at BDO.

  • Secret Service Failures Offer Lessons For Private Sector GCs

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    The Secret Service’s problematic response to two assassination attempts against former President Donald Trump this summer provides a crash course for general counsel on how not to handle crisis communications, says Keith Nahigian at Nahigian Strategies.

  • Litigation Inspiration: Honoring Your Learned Profession

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    About 30,000 people who took the bar exam in July will learn they passed this fall, marking a fitting time for all attorneys to remember that they are members in a specialty club of learned professionals — and the more they can keep this in mind, the more benefits they will see, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

  • Opinion

    AI May Limit Key Learning Opportunities For Young Attorneys

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    The thing that’s so powerful about artificial intelligence is also what’s most scary about it — its ability to detect patterns may curtail young attorneys’ chance to practice the lower-level work of managing cases, preventing them from ever honing the pattern recognition skills that undergird creative lawyering, says Sarah Murray at Trialcraft.

  • A Class Action Trend Tests Limit Of Courts' Equity Powers

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    A troubling trend has developed in federal class action litigation as some counsel and judges attempt to push injunctive relief classes under Rule 23(b)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure beyond the traditional limits of federal courts' equitable powers, say attorneys at Jones Day.

  • A Look At How De Minimis Import Rules May Soon Change

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    The planned implementation of executive actions focused on the de minimis rule as it applies to shipments means companies should use this interval to evaluate the potential applicability and impact of Section 301, Section 201 or Section 232 duties on their products, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

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