Retail & E-Commerce

  • October 08, 2024

    2nd Circ. Won't Revive 1-800 Contacts, Warby Parker Row

    A Second Circuit panel affirmed a ruling Tuesday that found eyewear retailer Warby Parker did not infringe 1-800 Contacts Inc.'s trademarks by purchasing ads on search engines using its competitor's keywords.

  • October 08, 2024

    Coolant Cos. Challenging HFC Rules Meet Skeptical DC Circ.

    A D.C. Circuit panel Tuesday seemed dubious of coolant industry challenges to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's omission of 2020 market data in calculating the agency's framework for phasing down climate-harming hydrofluorocarbons.

  • October 08, 2024

    Underwriter Says Freight Co. Not Covered For Missing Cargo

    An underwriter urged a Washington federal court to relieve it of any coverage obligations it may owe under a commercial auto policy to a freight company that is potentially on the hook for over $580,000 after a cargo broker claimed that a shipment of computer parts wasn't delivered.

  • October 08, 2024

    Judge Clarifies Licensing Curbs On Paul Newman Foundation

    The foundation established by the actor Paul Newman cannot license his publicity and intellectual property rights to any university or other nonprofit, studio or publisher or any luxury brand for advertising, a Connecticut state court judge has said, responding to a request to clarify a preliminary injunction she issued.

  • October 08, 2024

    Colo. Supreme Court Punts On Transgender Cake Case

    The Colorado Supreme Court said Tuesday it couldn't consider the merits of a discrimination case alleging a bakery refused to make a cake to celebrate a customer's gender transition, finding a trial court didn't have jurisdiction to hear the case in the first place.

  • October 08, 2024

    11th Circ. Revives Slip-And-Fall Suit Against Sam's Club

    The Eleventh Circuit has reinstated a woman's suit against retailer Sam's Club alleging she slipped and fell on water in one of its stores, saying there's evidence creating a dispute about whether the store had constructive notice of the spill.

  • October 08, 2024

    3rd Circ. Won't Rehear Pa., NJ Businesses' Virus Loss Suits

    The Third Circuit declined to rehear consolidated pandemic-related loss coverage disputes brought by New Jersey and Pennsylvania businesses, according to an order issued Tuesday, upholding its decision that the businesses' insurers didn't owe coverage for the claimed losses.

  • October 08, 2024

    J&J Greenwashes '100% Plant-Based' Wipes, Suit Says

    Johnson & Johnson customers hit the pharmaceutical giant with a putative false advertising class action in California federal court alleging its line of Aveeno makeup removing wipes are not 100% plant-based or environmentally friendly as the package claims.

  • October 08, 2024

    Google Says Rumble Suit Too Late To Join Ad Tech MDL

    Google wants to keep Rumble away from the consolidated litigation targeting the company's advertising placement technology dominance, telling the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation that the Canadian video-sharing service's May antitrust lawsuit comes too late and is too different to join in.

  • October 08, 2024

    Home Depot Says Tool Rental Suit Makes No Sense

    The Home Depot Inc. called on a Georgia federal judge to throw out a contracting company's claims it systematically overcharged tool rental program customers, arguing the company is trying to "reengineer" the tool-rental agreement in ways that "produce absurd results and otherwise make no sense."

  • October 08, 2024

    Pa. Justices Wary Of Linking Mask Tax To Consumer Harms

    Several justices of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court seemed cautious Tuesday about extending the state's consumer protection law liability to retailers who collect sales tax on tax-exempt items, pointing to the state's refund system as an existing form of relief for overcharged customers.

  • October 08, 2024

    Senior Renters Say Mass. Facility Charged Exorbitant Fees

    A proposed class of low-income, elderly residents at an assisted living facility have told a Massachusetts federal court the facility's owner and operators charged an illegal "ancillary fee" calculated to extract all but a $100 monthly allowance from residents.

  • October 08, 2024

    9th Circ. Affirms Atty Fee Reduction In Cathode Suit

    A three-judge Ninth Circuit panel on Monday upheld a lower court's decision to cut more than $2 million from plaintiff's firm Cooper & Kirkham's $3.45 million fee award in a multidistrict litigation settlement over alleged cathode ray tube price-fixing litigation.

  • October 07, 2024

    FTC's Amazon Monopolization Suit Largely Survives Dismissal

    The bulk of the Federal Trade Commission's landmark monopolization case against Amazon will go forward, a Washington federal judge held in a recently unsealed opinion that trimmed only a few state-law claims from the 20-count antitrust complaint challenging the retail giant's pricing practices.

  • October 07, 2024

    PetSmart Can't Shear Down Dog Food Trademark Suit

    A Kentucky federal judge declined PetSmart's bid to narrow a dog food company's intellectual property lawsuit against the pet products retailer, holding that the case qualifies for an exception that allows courts to intervene in pending matters before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

  • October 07, 2024

    Judge Presses AmEx On Arbitration Push For Merchants

    A Rhode Island judge on Monday expressed skepticism about American Express' claim that it could force a proposed antitrust class action targeting the company's swipe fee rules back into arbitration after the plaintiffs say it already defaulted on arbitration fees.

  • October 07, 2024

    Attys Want $20M Fees For Netting $64M Tuna Price-Fixing Deal

    Attorneys representing a class of purchasers who sued several canned tuna producers have asked a California federal judge for nearly $20 million in fees and costs associated with their recently inked $64 million settlement, saying the award is fair considering the effort the case took to prosecute and the complexity of the deal.

  • October 07, 2024

    McDonald's Accuses Big Beef Of Price-Fixing

    McDonald's Corp. sued Cargill, JBS, National Beef Packing Co., Swift Beef Co., Tyson and several subsidiaries in New York federal court Friday, accusing the major meat processing and packing companies of conspiring to fix beef prices, resulting in higher costs for the fast food behemoth.

  • October 07, 2024

    Pa. Supreme Court Snapshot: Mask Taxes, Pride Month Post

    The Pennsylvania Supreme Court during its October argument session will weigh whether retailers improperly collecting sales tax on face masks, which were exempted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, amounts to "commerce" that could trigger the state's consumer protection law. ​

  • October 07, 2024

    Texas Ghost Gun Cos. Can't Keep Calif. Suit In Fed Court

    A California federal judge has sent back to state court a suit by the state alleging three Texas-based companies are trying to get around California's prohibition on equipment used primarily or exclusively to make "ghost guns," finding the companies haven't shown that there's diversity among the parties.

  • October 07, 2024

    Illinois Defends Swipe Fee Law As Banks Seek To Block It

    The Illinois attorney general has urged a federal judge to reject a preliminary injunction sought by banking trade groups that have sued to block a first-of-its-kind state law restricting swipe fees, arguing the industry groups' challenge fails on sovereign immunity and standing grounds.

  • October 07, 2024

    Amazon Breaking Wash. Noncompete Law, Workers Say

    A proposed class of Amazon warehouse and retail workers have accused the company of forcing them into noncompete clauses in violation of a Washington law aimed at protecting the mobility of lower wage workers.

  • October 07, 2024

    T-Mobile Contractor's $27M Phone Order Suit Gets Cancelled

    A Washington federal judge has again thrown out a mobile phone manufacturer's $27 million lawsuit accusing T-Mobile of reneging on purchase orders — this time, for good — ruling the company's revised claims are still at odds with the carrier's contractual right to cancel.   

  • October 07, 2024

    Vendor Says Rue21 Skipped $2M In Bills For Clothing

    A Los Angeles-based clothing supplier has sued Rue21, saying the fashion retailer stiffed it on $300,000 worth of invoices and is on the hook for $1.7 million to another vendor.

  • October 07, 2024

    Grocery Co. Won't Get High Court Review Of Gender Bias Suit

    The U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday it won't review the revival of a gender bias case brought by a woman who said she was fired from her management role in a grocery store chain after her supervisor repeatedly said that management jobs were "too stressful" for women to handle.

Expert Analysis

  • In Biz Account Breaches, Look Beyond The Payment Platform

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    A business's legal path to recovering funds after bad actors access a payment platform account and engage in unauthorized transactions can lead into murky legal territory where liability is unclear, and pursuing the payment platform itself will be an uphill, if not insurmountable, struggle, say Edward Marshall and Morgan Harrison at Arnall Golden.

  • A Look At Calif. Contract Considerations In Fiji Water Ruling

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    A California appellate court's recent decision in Carolina Beverage v. Fiji Water, that a party may not seek contractual recovery on the basis of constructive termination, offers a look at contract construction and other considerations on negotiating distribution agreements, says Michael Laszlo at Clark Hill.

  • Making Plans For BNPL Consumer Protection Compliance

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    With an interpretive rule from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau set to require buy-now, pay-later providers to implement credit card-like consumer safeguards by the end of July, loan providers must solidify their federally compliant customer dispute resolution and disclosure procedures before the newly emboldened bureau's deadline, say attorneys at Steptoe.

  • After A Brief Hiccup, The 'Rocket Docket' Soars Back To No. 1

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    The Eastern District of Virginia’s precipitous 2022 fall from its storied rocket docket status appears to have been a temporary aberration, as recent statistics reveal that the court is once again back on top as the fastest federal civil trial court in the nation, says Robert Tata at Hunton.

  • Tailoring Compliance Before AI Walks The Runway

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    Fashion industry players that adopt artificial intelligence to propel their businesses forward should consider ways to minimize its perceived downsides, including potential job displacements and algorithmic biases that may harm diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, say Jeffrey Greene and Ivory Djahouri at Foley & Lardner.

  • Recruitment Trends In Emerging Law Firm Frontiers

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    BigLaw firms are facing local recruitment challenges as they increasingly establish offices in cities outside of the major legal hubs, requiring them to weigh various strategies for attracting talent that present different risks and benefits, says Tom Hanlon at Buchanan Law.

  • How Uyghur Forced Labor Law Affects Importing Companies

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    Amid a growing focus on forced labor in supply chains and a likely increase in enforcement under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, companies may face costly import delays unless they develop and implement compliance best practices, say Thad McBride and Lauren Gammer at Bass Berry.

  • Series

    Glassblowing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    I never expected that glassblowing would strongly influence my work as an attorney, but it has taught me the importance of building a solid foundation for your work, learning from others and committing to a lifetime of practice, says Margaret House at Kalijarvi Chuzi.

  • How Associates Can Build A Professional Image

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    As hybrid work arrangements become the norm in the legal industry, early-career attorneys must be proactive in building and maintaining a professional presence in both physical and digital settings, ensuring that their image aligns with their long-term career goals, say Lana Manganiello at Equinox Strategy Partners and Estelle Winsett at Estelle Winsett Professional Image Consulting.

  • Firms Must Rethink How They Train New Lawyers In AI Age

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    As law firms begin to use generative artificial intelligence to complete lower-level legal tasks, they’ll need to consider new ways to train summer associates and early-career attorneys, keeping in mind the five stages of skill acquisition, says Liisa Thomas at Sheppard Mullin.

  • What 4 Cyber Protection Actions Mean For Marine Transport

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    Several recent steps by the Biden administration are necessary to address the cyber threats that increasingly disrupt the maritime sector, but also impose new legal risks, liabilities and operating costs on the owners and operators of U.S.-flagged vessels and facilities, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Inside Antitrust Agencies' Rollup And Serial Acquisition Moves

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    The recent request for public comments on serial acquisitions and rollup strategies from the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Justice Department mark the antitrust agencies' continued focus on actions that fall below premerger reporting thresholds, say attorneys at Paul Weiss.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Always Be Closing

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    When a lawyer presents their case with the right propulsive structure throughout trial, there is little need for further argument after the close of evidence — and in fact, rehashing it all may test jurors’ patience — so attorneys should consider other strategies for closing arguments, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Rare Robinson-Patman Ruling Exhibits Key Antitrust Risk

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    A rare federal court decision under the Robinson-Patman Act, which prohibits certain kinds of price discrimination, highlights the antitrust risks faced by certain suppliers and is likely to be cited by future plaintiffs and enforcement officials calling for renewed scrutiny of pricing and discounting practices, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • Counterfeits At The Olympics Pose IP Challenges

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    With the 2024 Olympic Games quickly approaching, the proliferation of counterfeit Olympic merchandise poses a difficult challenge to the protection of intellectual property rights and the preservation of the Olympic brand's integrity, says Kimiya Shams at Devialet.

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