Retail & E-Commerce

  • November 21, 2024

    Franchise Group Lenders Want End To Debtor's Ch. 11 Rights

    Lenders of bankrupt retail-focused holding company Franchise Group Inc., including Pacific Investment Management Co. and private equity firm Irradiant Partners, have urged a Delaware bankruptcy judge to end holdco debtor Chapter 11 exclusivity restrictions, arguing that the move offers the best escape from a near-inescapable "Gordian knot" entangling all their claims.

  • November 21, 2024

    FCC To Hit Video Doorbell Maker For Skirting Security Rules

    The Federal Communications Commission wants to slap Chinese smart home device maker Eken with a more than $700,000 fine for breaking agency rules that require foreign companies to have an agent located in the U.S.

  • November 21, 2024

    Walmart Hit With $34.7M Verdict For Defaming Truck Driver

    A California jury has awarded $34.7 million to a former Walmart truck driver, finding that the retailer defamed him when it falsely accused him of fraud and fired him after he was injured on the job and filed a worker's compensation claim.

  • November 21, 2024

    AutoZone, Ex-Manager Agree To Park Sex Bias Suit

    A subsidiary of car parts retailer AutoZone Inc. struck a deal to end a sex, gender and age bias suit from a former district manager who said the company fired her and replaced her with a younger worker, according to a filing in California federal court.

  • November 21, 2024

    Tempur Gave UK Co. 'Total Autonomy' Post-Merger, CEO Says

    The CEO of a United Kingdom-based mattress company acquired by Tempur Sealy in 2021 told a Houston federal judge Thursday that his new parent company has provided him "total autonomy" since the acquisition.

  • November 21, 2024

    Big Lots Seeks To Include Claims Against Execs In Asset Sale

    Discount retailer Big Lots on Thursday asked a Delaware bankruptcy judge to approve a $760 million asset sale to a private equity group and override creditor objections to the inclusion of potential litigation claims against company insiders in the package.

  • November 21, 2024

    Glassmakers Seek Duty Probe On Overseas Competitors

    A group of U.S. glassmakers asked the U.S. Department of Commerce on Thursday to look into float glass imports from China and Malaysia, saying subsidies in those countries have allowed the imports to be sold at artificially low prices.

  • November 21, 2024

    EPA Announces National Strategy To Tackle Plastic Pollution

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday unveiled its national strategy outlining how government agencies, businesses, nonprofits and communities can prevent plastic pollution. 

  • November 21, 2024

    Sherwin-Williams Wants Pause In NJ Pollution Suit

    Sherwin-Williams asked a New Jersey state court to pause a suit from Garden State regulators over the contamination at one of its former plants, arguing an expert for the state has claimed the cleanup required under a consent decree failed to accurately assess the scope of contamination and that a massive new soil excavation is required.

  • November 21, 2024

    Louisiana Defends New Hemp Law From Industry Challenge

    A Cannabis industry-led lawsuit seeking to block Louisiana from imposing new restrictions on consumables infused with hemp-derived THC should be squashed, the state told a federal judge, saying the legal theories the suit presents "have been tried and failed elsewhere."

  • November 21, 2024

    Vape Maker Sued Over Illegally High Delta-9 THC Levels

    Two men are suing Lifted Liquids Inc. in Illinois federal court, alleging that its hemp-derived vape products contain more than .3% Delta-9 THC despite its advertising, making the products federally illegal and putting users at risk.

  • November 21, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Agrees Tomofun's Pet Camera Didn't Infringe Patent

    The Federal Circuit on Thursday affirmed a lower court's finding that pet technology company Tomofun's Furbo pet camera didn't infringe a pet communication patent, agreeing that the product at issue didn't cover key patent language.

  • November 21, 2024

    Calif. Judge Says Dormant Commerce Inapplicable To Pot

    A California federal judge on Thursday tossed an out-of-state entrepreneur's challenge to Sacramento's cannabis social equity licensure program, asserting that the dormant commerce clause does not apply to federally illegal marijuana.

  • November 21, 2024

    Newell Brands Wants Baby Bottle Microplastics Suit Tossed

    Newell Brands Inc. moved Wednesday to dismiss a lawsuit accusing it of misleading buyers by labeling its Nuk brand of baby bottles as BPA-free while failing to disclose the products leach microplastics when heated, saying the label is "objectively truthful."

  • November 21, 2024

    Chewy Investors Sue BC Partners In Del. Over PetSmart Deal

    British international investment giant BC Partners exploited its control of online pet product retailer Chewy Inc. when a BCP affiliate merged into Chewy after divesting its interest in PetSmart Inc., saddling Chewy with a potential $1.9 billion post-deal tax liability, according to a new Delaware Court of Chancery complaint.

  • November 21, 2024

    DOJ Urges Chrome, Android Sales In Google Case

    The U.S. Department of Justice late Wednesday formally asked a Washington, D.C., federal judge to order a range of steps to end Google's monopolization of general search services and the text ads shown alongside search results, most notably by forcing the company to spin off the Chrome browser.

  • November 20, 2024

    CVS Can't Dodge Proposed Action Over 'Non-Drowsy' Claims

    CVS Pharmacy must continue facing a proposed class action alleging it "dangerously" markets over-the-counter medicine as "non-drowsy" despite containing a substance known to cause drowsiness after a Missouri federal judge on Wednesday refused to toss claims lodged under Missouri and other states' consumer protection laws.

  • November 20, 2024

    Lululemon Execs Hit With Derivative Suit Over DEI Program

    Lululemon leadership was hit with a shareholder derivative suit Wednesday claiming they made false statements related to the company's new "Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Action" program that artificially boosted the company's stock price and also concealed problems with the company's inventory allocation.

  • November 20, 2024

    9th Circ. Judge Asks How Loper Bright Impacts EPA Fine Case

    A Ninth Circuit judge wondered on Wednesday what weight the court should give the Environmental Protection Agency's view in a chemical wholesaler's appeal of an $850,000 fine in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's Loper Bright decision, suggesting the justices might next end agency deference in regulatory interpretation.

  • November 20, 2024

    Wash. Judge Questions Startup's Amazon Antitrust Claims

    A Washington federal judge on Wednesday suggested that antitrust claims might not survive in a startup's complaint against Amazon Web Services involving a dispute over higher-speed internet connections in the Middle East that allowed the startup to cater to its customer Epic Games.

  • November 20, 2024

    Nike Accused Of 'Smear Campaign' Over $60M Trademark Suit

    A Los Angeles-based company that made customized sneakers for celebrities and athletes hit back Tuesday at Nike's $60 million trademark suit, saying that despite the companies' previous collaborations, Nike is now making knowing false claims in a "smear campaign" to crush its business.

  • November 20, 2024

    DEA Accused Of Colluding With Reform Foes In Pot Row

    Cannabis reform advocates have alleged that the Drug Enforcement Administration "stacked the deck" by colluding with anti-legalization interests and giving them improper opportunities to participate in upcoming hearings on a proposal to loosen federal restrictions on the drug.

  • November 20, 2024

    Apple Says DOJ Case Has Too Much Speculation To Survive

    Apple's attorneys pressed a New Jersey federal judge Wednesday to toss the U.S. Department of Justice's monopolization lawsuit, asserting in oral arguments that the government is simply trying to force them to work with rivals when attacking controls imposed on iPhone app developers.

  • November 20, 2024

    CPSC Misunderstands Magnet Risks For Kids, Court Told

    An attorney for the magnet industry told the Tenth Circuit on Wednesday that consumer safety regulators wrongly focused on the size of magnets when trying to protect children from the danger of swallowing them, when the real danger of high-powered magnets comes from swallowing multiple magnets, regardless of size, not single magnets that may be small enough to swallow.

  • November 20, 2024

    Attys Get $9K After Seeking $578K For Defending Safeway

    A California federal judge awarded about $8,800 in fees to two firms that requested $578,000 after defending Safeway from a contractor's 2021 lawsuit, saying Wednesday that the figure shouldn't come as a surprise because the attorneys simply pointed to a request-for-proposal document to defeat the suit's breach of contract allegations.

Expert Analysis

  • Deadline Extension Highlights PFAS Reporting Complexities

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    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's recent extension of reporting and recordkeeping timelines for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances under the Toxic Substances Control Act offers relief to the regulated community, but the unprecedented volume of data required means that businesses must remain diligent in their data collection efforts, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • 2nd Circ. American Girl Ruling Alters Test Purchase Norms

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    The Second Circuit's recent ruling in American Girl v. Zembrka overturns years of precedent that required completed test purchase shipments to establish jurisdiction in infringement cases, but litigators shouldn't abandon the strategy entirely, say Robert Wasnofski and Sara Gates at Dentons.

  • State Of The States' AI Legal Ethics Landscape

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    Over the past year, several state bar associations, as well as the American Bar Association, have released guidance on the ethical use of artificial intelligence in legal practice, all of which share overarching themes and some nuanced differences, say Eric Pacifici and Kevin Henderson at SMB Law Group.

  • Review Shipping Terms In Light Of These 3 Global Challenges

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    Given tensions in the Middle East, labor unrest at U.S. ports and the ongoing consequences of climate change, parties involved in maritime shipping must understand the relevant contract provisions and laws that may be implicated during supply chain disruptions in order to mitigate risks, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Cos. Face Increasing Risk From Environmental Citizen Suits

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    Environmental citizen suits stepping in to fill the regulatory vacuum concerning consumer goods waste may soon become more common, and the evolving procedural landscape and changes to environmental law may contribute to companies' increased exposure, say J. Michael Showalter and Bradley Rochlen at ArentFox Schiff.

  • 8 Childhood Lessons That Can Help You Be A Better Attorney

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    A new school year is underway, marking a fitting time for attorneys to reflect on some fundamental life lessons from early childhood that offer a framework for problems that no legal textbook can solve, say Chris Gismondi and Chris Campbell at DLA Piper.

  • 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.

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