Retail & E-Commerce

  • April 02, 2025

    3rd Circ. Says CVS Sex Bias Arbitration Fight Needs 2nd Look

    The Third Circuit on Wednesday rejected a former CVS worker's argument that a 2022 federal law shielded her sex harassment case from mandatory arbitration, but it revived her suit to give the trial court a chance to explore whether the arbitration pact at issue was valid.

  • April 02, 2025

    Justices Broaden RICO Reach To Personal Injuries

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday expanded the type of civil actions that can be brought under a federal racketeering statute, asserting that claims stemming from personal injuries are redressable if they can be shown to have caused economic harm.

  • April 01, 2025

    Bigelow Waved The Flag While Selling Foreign Tea, Jury Told

    R.C. Bigelow Inc. falsely advertised its foreign-grown teas as "manufactured in the USA" in a deceitful effort to play on customers' patriotic sentiments, counsel for a certified class of Golden State tea buyers told jurors as a damages trial opened in California federal court Tuesday.

  • April 01, 2025

    Surfboard Maker Resolves $1.3M Patent Fight With Rival

    A Puerto Rico surfboard manufacturer said Tuesday that it has ended its patent case against a Chinese company that was told by a jury two years ago to pay more than $1.3 million in royalties for infringing patents covering a newer kind of board that keeps surfers above water.

  • April 01, 2025

    Estée Lauder Must Face Investors' Suit Over Inflated Growth

    Estée Lauder investors have successfully pled the cosmetics company and its top brass made several misleading omissions and statements and opinions "mired in half-truths" in their suit alleging that the company announced unrealistic expectations for growth early in the COVID-19 pandemic, a New York federal judge ruled Monday.

  • April 01, 2025

    Pork Price-Fixing Fight Over Sales Data Swap Heads To Trial

    A Minnesota federal court mostly denied Monday a slew of summary judgment motions from Tyson and other pork producers seeking wins in an antitrust suit alleging they conspired with data firm Agri Stats to fix pork prices and reduce supply, teeing up the high-stakes multidistrict litigation for a June trial.

  • April 01, 2025

    Nordstrom Suit Over $6.7M Shirt Deal Restitched At 9th Circ.

    A Ninth Circuit panel on Tuesday restored a garment maker's lawsuit accusing retailer Nordstrom of using baseless human rights concerns as a pretense to yank a $6.7 million menswear order, saying a U.S. Customs press release about a forced labor investigation wasn't enough to warrant the alleged cancellation.

  • April 01, 2025

    Ruger Seeks Dismissal Of Colorado Mass Shooting Lawsuits

    Family members who lost loved ones in a mass shooting at a Colorado grocery store can't prove that Sturm Ruger & Co.'s marketing of an AR-style weapon is what inspired the gunman to violence, the firearms manufacturer argued, saying without this link the claims must be dismissed.

  • April 01, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Won't Review Reviving Medical Device Patent Suit

    A Federal Circuit panel on Tuesday declined to reconsider a decision reviving a patent infringement suit against a medical device manufacturer, letting stand its holding ordering a new trial in the case.

  • April 01, 2025

    Nordstrom Family Faces Class Action Over Merger Deal

    Members of the Nordstrom family and Mexican omnichannel retailer and shareholder El Puerto de Liverpool, along with Nordstrom Inc., were hit with a class action alleging that they formed a group to acquire the remaining shares of the retailer and take it private at an inadequate price and based on an unfair and unlawful process.

  • April 01, 2025

    Court Won't Toss FTC's Merger Penalty Case Against 7-Eleven

    A D.C. federal court refused to toss the Federal Trade Commission's case looking to hit 7-Eleven with a $77.5 million penalty for allegedly violating a merger settlement after rejecting arguments that only the U.S. Department of Justice can seek civil penalties for the commission.

  • April 01, 2025

    Amazon Says Workers Can't Rewrite 2nd Circ.'s Wage Queries

    Amazon has asked Connecticut's highest court not to reframe certified Second Circuit questions about whether its employees must be paid while walking to mandatory anti-theft screenings at the ends of their shifts, arguing that state court rules ban them from altering the circuit's words.

  • April 01, 2025

    Smoke Shop Says Hookah Maker's 'Litigation Mill' Is A Fraud

    A smoke shop among nearly 1,000 sued by GS Holistic LLC over alleged sales of counterfeit products is suing the hookah maker in California federal court, saying GS Holistic's "litigation mill" has committed fraud against the courts through false accusations.

  • April 01, 2025

    AFL-CIO Backs Oregon's Cannabis Labor Peace Law

    The AFL-CIO has jumped into a legal battle to defend against a constitutional challenge seeking to block implementation of a voter-approved Oregon state law that requires cannabis businesses to have labor peace agreements.

  • March 31, 2025

    Ex-Blood Bank Atty Goes Back To Ballard Spahr In Phoenix

    Ballard Spahr LLP has picked up a former in-house intellectual property lawyer from nonprofit blood bank Vitalant who had worked at the law firm a little over a decade ago.

  • March 31, 2025

    J&J Talc Spinoff's Ch. 11 Case Gets Tossed, Erasing $9B Deal

    A Texas bankruptcy judge rejected Johnson & Johnson's third attempt to use Chapter 11 to settle thousands of claims that its products caused cancer, dismissing J&J unit Red River Talc's Chapter 11 case on Monday and throwing out a roughly $9 billion bankruptcy deal over issues with the company's voting procedures and third-party releases.

  • March 31, 2025

    Vizio Stockholders Open Challenge To $2.3B Walmart Merger

    A Vizio Inc. stockholder launched a class challenge Monday to the smart-TV company's $11.50 per share, $2.3 billion, sale to Walmart Inc., accusing insiders — including Vizio CEO and controller William Wang — of wiring up a deal unfair to common stockholders.

  • March 31, 2025

    Levi Strauss 'Sandbagged' By Bias Case Witness, Court Told

    Levi Strauss urged the California federal judge overseeing a former marketing director's sex-discrimination suit to exclude the woman's therapist from testifying at trial about the alleged emotional distress she suffered while employed by the denim manufacturer, saying Monday that the company was "sandbagged" at the last minute with the witness.

  • March 31, 2025

    Ford Escapes Calif. Driver's Cooling Pump Warranty Claims

    A California federal judge said Ford can evade a proposed class action alleging it violated state law by keeping its cooling system pump out of California's emission control system warranty, saying a state regulator agreed the pump is not an emissions-related part.

  • March 31, 2025

    Mich. Judge Dismisses Biz's 'Pump-And-Dump' RICO Suit

    A Michigan federal judge on Monday tossed what he called a confusing "power struggle" of a lawsuit from a company accusing its former leaders of conspiring to install a CEO and leading a pump-and-dump scheme, finding that the company was essentially improperly seeking review of a prior state court judgment that it lost.

  • March 31, 2025

    Trader Joe's Scores Win In Chocolate Heavy Metals Case

    Consumers alleging dark chocolate sold by Trader Joe's contains unsafe levels of lead and cadmium cannot pursue some of their state law claims because information about the presence of heavy metals in chocolate has been reasonably available to consumers for decades, a California federal judge ruled.

  • March 31, 2025

    Conn. High Court Urged To Expand Amazon Wage Questions

    Amazon workers asked Connecticut's top court to expand two questions certified from the Second Circuit over whether post-shift anti-theft screenings should have been compensated, saying the time workers spent walking to screening areas is also part of the issue.

  • March 31, 2025

    Del. Court Says Mattel Sleeper Claims Are One Occurrence

    Injury claims against toy-makers Mattel and subsidiary Fisher Price over their Rock n' Play Sleeper products constitute a single occurrence under Mattel's various commercial general liability policies, a Delaware state court ruled, though further finding that individual alleged injuries must still fall under different policy years.

  • March 31, 2025

    Calif. Pot Co. Seeks Receivership, Blames Merger 'Disaster'

    A cannabis producer in California has moved to enter receivership in state court, disclosing more than $173 million in liabilities and saying a 2023 merger with its parent company proved to be a "financial disaster."

  • March 31, 2025

    Amazon's Bid To Kick Drivers From Pay Suit Mostly Denied

    A Washington federal judge agreed to oust only two of the 11 workers Amazon asked to dismiss from an 8-year-old suit accusing the company of misclassifying drivers as independent contractors, saying the other nine made enough effort to comply with discovery.

Expert Analysis

  • Antitrust Issues To Watch Amid Google Ad Tech Trial

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    Regardless of the outcome of the U.S. Department of Justice's advertising technology antitrust suit against Google in Virginia federal court, matters ranging from market definition to unified pricing will likely have far-reaching implications for the digital advertising industry, competition and innovation, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • What To Know About Latest Calif. Auto-Renewal Law Update

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    While businesses have about nine months to prepare before the recently passed amendment to California's automatic renewal law takes effect, it’s not too early to begin working on compliance efforts, including sign-up flow reviews, record retention updates and marketing language revisions, say Gonzalo Mon and Beth Chun at Kelley Drye.

  • How Lucia, Jarkesy Could Affect Grocery Merger Challenge

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    While the Federal Trade Commission is taking a dual federal court and administrative tribunal approach to block Kroger's merger with Alberstons, Kroger's long-shot unconstitutionality claims could potentially lead to a reevaluation of the FTC's reliance on administrative processes in complex merger cases, say attorneys at Saul Ewing.

  • How To Avoid Liability When Using Cookie Consent Managers

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    As companies attempt to comply with consumer protection laws by implementing cookie consent managers on their websites, they must be wary of separate legal risks that can stem from implementing or using these tools incorrectly, says Ian Cohen at LOKKER.

  • Basel Endgame Rules: A Change Is Coming

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    The Federal Reserve Board's recently announced recalibration of the Basel endgame proposal begins a critical chapter in the evolution of not only the safety and soundness of U.S. banks, but also of banks' abilities to lend and support American businesses and consumers, say attorneys at Davis Wright.

  • Series

    Round-Canopy Parachuting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Similar to the practice of law, jumping from an in-flight airplane with nothing but training and a few yards of parachute silk is a demanding and stressful endeavor, and the experience has bolstered my legal practice by enhancing my focus, teamwork skills and sense of perspective, says Thomas Salerno at Stinson.

  • Why Now Is The Time For Law Firms To Hire Lateral Partners

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    Partner and associate mobility data from the second quarter of this year suggest that there's never been a better time in recent years for law firms to hire lateral candidates, particularly experienced partners — though this necessitates an understanding of potential red flags, say Julie Henson and Greg Hamman at Decipher Investigative Intelligence.

  • Considering Possible PR Risks Of Certain Legal Tactics

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    Disney and American Airlines recently abandoned certain litigation tactics in two lawsuits after fierce public backlash, illustrating why corporate counsel should consider the reputational implications of any legal strategy and partner with their communications teams to preempt public relations concerns, says Chris Gidez at G7 Reputation Advisory.

  • How Labeling And Testing May Help Reduce PFAS Litigation

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    As regulators take steps to reduce consumers’ exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as forever chemicals, companies can take a proactive approach to mitigating litigation risks not only by labeling their products transparently, but also by complying with testing and marketing standards, says Sarah La Pearl at Segal McCambridge.

  • It's No Longer Enough For Firms To Be Trusted Advisers

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    Amid fierce competition for business, the transactional “trusted adviser” paradigm from which most firms operate is no longer sufficient — they should instead aim to become trusted partners with their most valuable clients, says Stuart Maister at Strategic Narrative.

  • Behind 3rd Circ. Ruling On College Athletes' FLSA Eligibility

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    The Third Circuit's decision that college athletes are not precluded from bringing a claim under the Fair Labor Standards Act raises key questions about the practical consequences of treating collegiate athletes as employees, such as Title IX equal pay claims and potential eligibility for all employment benefits, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Commerce Proposal Could Ease Trade Remedy Administration

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    Recently proposed international trade enforcement regulations could help the U.S. Department of Commerce more easily administer antidumping and countervailing duty remedies, in turn maximizing relief to American companies adversely affected by unfair trade, says Natan Tubman at Buchanan Ingersoll.

  • Rise Of Transpo Contractors Brings Insurance Disputes

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    As more independent contractors are contracted and subcontracted in the delivery industry, companies must be prepared to defend claims from drivers who are injured on the job as they are often seeking to establish an employment relationship with one of the entities in the chain, says Nathan Milner at Goldberg Segalla.

  • 'Greenhushing': Why Some Cos. Are Keeping Quiet On ESG

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    A wave of ESG-related litigation and regulations have led some companies to retreat altogether from any public statements about their ESG goals, a trend known as "greenhushing" that was at the center of a recent D.C. court decision involving Coca-Cola, say Gonzalo Mon and Katie Rogers at Kelley Drye.

  • Co-Tenancy Clause Pointers For Shopping Center Landlords

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    Large retail tenants often require co-tenancy provisions in their leases, entitling them to remedies if a shopping center's occupancy drops in certain ways, but landlords must draft these provisions carefully to avoid giving tenants too much control, says Gary Glick at Cox Castle.

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