Retail & E-Commerce

  • October 09, 2025

    Big Lots Gets OK For $6.5M Deal On Exec Claims

    A Delaware bankruptcy judge on Thursday approved a $6.5 million settlement between retail chain Big Lots and its directors and officers, resolving claims by unsecured creditors that the company's board bungled an attempt to sell the company last year.

  • October 08, 2025

    Trump Tariffs Unconstitutional, Watchdog Tells Justices

    Either President Donald Trump doesn't have authority to impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or the law is unconstitutional, the nonprofit group Consumer Watchdog told the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday, urging the justices to affirm lower court rulings deeming those measures unlawful.

  • October 08, 2025

    Senate IP Leader Plans Push To Pass Patent Eligibility Bill

    Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., the leader of the Senate's intellectual property subcommittee, said Wednesday that before he leaves Congress in just over a year, one of his primary goals will be to advance his long-gestating bill to make more inventions eligible for patents.

  • October 08, 2025

    Amazon Can't Nix Counterclaims In Calif. Solar Projects Battle

    Amazon can't dodge counterclaims in a dispute over the fallout from power purchase pacts tied to two California solar developments, a Washington state judge has said, finding the projects' backers have adequately alleged the tech giant spoiled the deals by abusing its dominance in the renewable energy market.

  • October 08, 2025

    NY AG Cracks Down On Mercury In Skin Lightener Creams

    New York Attorney General Letitia James on Wednesday said she has ordered three companies to end their selling of skin lightening creams that contain dangerously high levels of mercury, sometimes up to 30,000 times the legal limit under the state's law.

  • October 08, 2025

    'I Don't Want To Be A Referee,' Google Search Judge Says

    A D.C. federal judge faced the prospect Wednesday of years more involvement in the U.S. Justice Department's case against Google's search monopoly, saying during a hearing that he's trying to balance avoiding being a "referee" for his remedies decision while preventing "misuses" of data sharing and search syndication mandates.

  • October 08, 2025

    Exxon Retail Voting Program Green Light Inspires Other Cos.

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent green light of Exxon Mobil Corp.'s program to enable automated proxy voting for retail investors has sparked interest among other firms exploring implementing their own such programs, as the oil and gas giant moves to counter activist groups.

  • October 08, 2025

    Judge OKs Amazon's Evidence Clawback In Antitrust Suits

    Amazon can claw back certain documents it handed over during discovery in a series of antitrust lawsuits alleging the company's merchant policies artificially raised market prices, a Seattle federal judge has ruled, rejecting objections raised by consumers suing the e-commerce giant.

  • October 08, 2025

    Federal Court Tosses Challenge To DC Cannabinoid Rule

    A lawsuit seeking to upend Washington, D.C.'s statutes that placed hemp products containing delta-9 THC into same category as marijuana was dismissed on Wednesday when a federal judge ruled that a hemp retailer, who filed the suit after its shop was shut down, totally misunderstood the "2018 Farm Bill and its impact on D.C. law."

  • October 08, 2025

    11th Circ. Urged To Keep Ga.'s E-Commerce Regs On Ice

    Internet trade group NetChoice urged the Eleventh Circuit Wednesday to leave in place an injunction that for more than a year has kept Georgia from enforcing new requirements on e-commerce platforms, arguing the state's law tries to push past a regulatory "ceiling" already imposed by federal law.

  • October 08, 2025

    Judge To OK Neiman Marcus Trust's Altered Payout Scheme

    A Texas bankruptcy judge said on Wednesday he would allow the liquidating trustee in reorganized debtor Neiman Marcus' bankruptcy case to make distributions to unsecured creditors largely along the trustee's requested lines but without an abbreviated deadline for unclaimed funds to revert to the trust.

  • October 08, 2025

    DOJ Asks For Stay In PVC Antitrust Case Amid Criminal Probe

    The U.S. Department of Justice is asking an Illinois federal court to pause discovery in a case accusing polyvinyl chloride pipe manufacturers of using a commodity pricing service to exchange information and fix prices while a grand jury investigates the alleged activity.

  • October 08, 2025

    2 More States Join Growing US Privacy Regulator Consortium

    A bipartisan collective of U.S. regulators that was recently formed to collaborate on the implementation and enforcement of their states' data privacy regimes has swelled to double digits, with the attorneys general of Minnesota and New Hampshire on Wednesday being announced as the group's newest members. 

  • October 07, 2025

    Chobani Says Coffee Rival Can't Claim 'Bright & Mellow' TM

    Chobani on Monday urged a New York federal court to throw out rival Danone's unregistered trademark infringement suit over use of the phrase "Bright & Mellow" to market ready-to-drink coffee, arguing that Danone contends "it alone" may use those "ordinary adjectives."

  • October 07, 2025

    Wash. Spam Email Law Is Unconstitutional, Retailers Say

    Beauty retail giant Ulta and home improvement retailer Home Depot argued last week in separate cases that Washington state's Commercial Electronic Mail Act is unconstitutional and preempted by federal law as they seek to shed proposed consumer class actions claiming their promotional emails were misleading.

  • October 07, 2025

    Bausch And Teva Blocked Cheaper IBS Drug, Retailers Say

    A slew of retailers on Tuesday accused Bausch Health Cos. Inc. and Teva Pharmaceuticals of working together to keep the generic version of an irritable bowel syndrome drug off the market until 2028, forcing the retailers and other purchasers of the drug to pay monopoly prices.

  • October 07, 2025

    Sunbeam Ovens Burn Users, Suit Says

    Sunbeam Products Inc. and its parent company, Newell Brands Inc., were hit Tuesday with a proposed class action in federal court over a recalled countertop oven by a New Yorker claiming the appliance burned her and that the company failed to warn about the risks of injury.

  • October 07, 2025

    Hemp Retailer Sues Ohio Police Department Over Seizure

    An Ohio police department seized more than half a million dollars' worth of hemp using a bad search warrant claiming that the hemp, which is legal, was marijuana, the hemp retailer told a federal court Monday.

  • October 07, 2025

    No Coverage For Smoke Shop Over Fatal Crash, Insurer Says

    A smoke shop's insurer told a North Carolina state appeals court the shop shouldn't receive coverage for a lawsuit alleging it's liable for a fatal auto collision because it sold nitrous oxide products to the at-fault driver, arguing its policy covered bodily injury only on the shop's premises.

  • October 07, 2025

    Cuban Cigar Co. Not Entitled To 'Cohiba' TMs, 4th Circ. Told

    General Cigar Co. has asked the Fourth Circuit to overturn a Trademark Trial and Appeal Board decision to grant a Cuban state-owned cigar producer's request to cancel two trademark registrations for the term "Cohiba," contending that the decision conflicts with U.S. law governing the embargo against Cuba.

  • October 07, 2025

    Chanel, The RealReal Fail To Reach Settlement In TM Feud

    Fashion house Chanel and used-items retailer The RealReal Inc. have told a Manhattan federal judge they haven't been able to reach a settlement on Chanel's claims of trademark infringement despite, as The RealReal's attorneys put it, significant efforts being expended to try to reach a compromise.

  • October 07, 2025

    Amazon Supplement Buyers Seek Spoliation Penalties

    Consumers in a proposed class action accusing Amazon of peddling dietary supplements without making federally required disclosures urged a Washington federal judge on Tuesday to punish the e-commerce giant for allegedly failing to preserve product detail webpages they say are key to the litigation. 

  • October 07, 2025

    9th Circ. Tosses Sporting Goods Co. Suit Against Ex-Landlord

    The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday backed the dismissal of a sporting goods retailer's suit against its former landlord, which was accused of wrongfully charging the retailer with monthly fee invoices even after the retailer left the location it was renting due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • October 07, 2025

    Apple Seeks To Toss IPhone, Watch Buyers' Antitrust Suits

    Apple has asked a New Jersey federal court to toss multidistrict antitrust litigation brought by iPhone and Apple Watch buyers, arguing that while they "try in vain to invent" theories about how Apple charges monopoly prices the inflation-adjusted price of the latest iPhone is nearly the same as the first model.

  • October 07, 2025

    Evenflo's Recall Over Choking Hazard Is Inadequate, Suit Says

    An Evenflo customer filed a proposed deceptive marketing class action complaint in Massachusetts federal court alleging the company failed to disclose that its Revolve360 Slim child car seats have easily detachable foam headrests that pose potential choking hazards.

Expert Analysis

  • What Greenwashing Looks Like, And How To Navigate Claims

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    Recent cases show that consumers seeking to challenge sustainability claims as greenwashing face significant legal hurdles, and that companies can avoid liability by emphasizing context, says Felicia Boyd at Norton Rose.

  • GC Nominee Likely Has Employer-Friendly NLRB Priorities

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    President Donald Trump’s nomination of Crystal Carey as general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board indicates the administration's intent to revive precedents favorable to employers, including expansion of permissible employer speech and reinstatement of procedural steps needed for employees to achieve unionization, say attorneys at Vorys.

  • 10 Soft Skills Every GC Should Master

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    As businesses face shifting regulatory and technological uncertainty, general counsel will need to strengthen certain soft skills to succeed, from admitting when they make a mistake to maintaining a healthy dose of dispassion, says Douglas Brown at Manatt.

  • An Unrestrained, Bright-Eyed View Of Legal AI's Future

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    Todd Itami at Covington offers a bright-eyed, laughing-all-the-way, skydive look at what the legal industry could look like after an artificial intelligence revolution, which he believes may happen much sooner and more dramatically than we expect.

  • Tracking The Evolution In Litigation Finance

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    Despite continued innovation, litigation finance remains an immature market with borrowers recieving significantly different terms as lenders learn to value cases, which firms need a strong handle on to ensure lending terms do not overwhelm collateral value, says Robert Wilkins at Lightfoot Franklin.

  • Lessons From Pa. Wiretapping Class Action Dismissal

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    A recent wiretapping class action in Pennsylvania federal court resulting in the dispositive dismissal of the action provides key insights on how online notice and consent can be leveraged to directly address and mitigate legal risks and class action liability exposure, say attorneys at Baker Donelson.

  • Opinion

    In Vape Case, Justices Must Focus On Agencies' Results

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    With the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in U.S. Food and Drug Administration v. Wages and White Lion Investments having put off the question of whether agency decisions arrived at erroneously are always invalid, the court should give the results of agency actions more weight than the reasoning behind them when it revisits this case, says Jonathan Sheffield at Loyola University Chicago School of Law.

  • Series

    Volunteer Firefighting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    While practicing corporate law and firefighting may appear incongruous, the latter benefits my legal career by reminding me of the importance of humility, perspective and education, says Nicholas Passaro at Ford.

  • Influencer Campaign Lawsuits Signal New Endorsement Risks

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    Recent class actions allege that companies' influencer campaigns violate the Federal Trade Commission's Endorsement Guides and various state laws, but it's not clear whether the failure to comply can sustain these lawsuits, or whether the plaintiffs' creative theory of damages will hold up to scrutiny, says Gonzalo Mon at Kelley Drye.

  • 5 Ways Banking Has Changed In 5 Years Since COVID

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    Since the start of the pandemic five years ago, technology, convenience and shifting expectations have transformed compliance for the financial services industry in several key ways, from the shrinking role of the traditional bank branch to the rise of fintech and mobile payments, says Christopher Pippett at Fox Rothschild.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: The Perils Of Digital Data Protocols

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    Though stipulated protocols governing the treatment of electronically stored information in litigation are meant to streamline discovery, recent disputes demonstrate that certain missteps in the process can lead to significant inefficiencies, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Making Sense Of Small Biz Fair Lending Compliance

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    Despite the uncertainty brought on by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent efforts to revise fair lending data collection requirements under Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act, the compliance dates have not yet been stayed, so covered institutions should still start to monitor any disparities now, say attorneys at Frost Brown Todd.

  • Defense Strategies After Justices' Personal Injury RICO Ruling

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    In Medical Marijuana v. Horn, the U.S. Supreme Court recently held that the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act can be invoked by some plaintiffs with claims arising from personal injuries — but defense counsel can use the limitations on civil RICO claims to seek early dismissal in such cases, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Preparing For Corporate Work

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    Law school often doesn't cover the business strategy, financial fluency and negotiation skills needed for a successful corporate or transactional law practice, but there are practical ways to gain relevant experience and achieve the mindset shifts critical to a thriving career in this space, says Dakota Forsyth at Olshan Frome.

  • 5 Insurance Types For Mitigating Tariff-Related Trade Losses

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    The potential for significant trade-related losses as a result of increased tariffs may cause companies to consider which of their insurance policies, including marine, builders risk, trade credit, and directors and officers, could provide coverage to alleviate the financial impact, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

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