Retail & E-Commerce

  • December 19, 2025

    Ill. Judge Trims Claims Over Mondelez Cocoa Sourcing Label

    A California consumer can pursue claims that Mondelez International illegally led customers to believe that the snack giant sources its cocoa ethically, but only for Oreo and Toblerone products, an Illinois federal judge ruled.

  • December 19, 2025

    NY Judge Urged To Deny Pot Club Owners' Reconsideration

    A New York federal judge shouldn't reconsider an order that allowed state law enforcement to continue conducting searches and seizures of Empire Cannabis Clubs locations and shutting them down, state officials argued Friday, saying the business owners failed to add anything new for the court to examine.

  • December 19, 2025

    Chemical Co. Workers Stole Trade Secrets, Seattle Jury Says

    Three former employees of Silver Fern Chemical Inc. misused the Washington-based distributor's trade secrets when they took proprietary customer information to work for a rival business, a Seattle federal jury said in awarding the company $1.9 million for lost profits.

  • December 19, 2025

    Florida Supreme Court To Review Pot Legalization Effort

    The Florida Supreme Court has agreed to weigh whether a new proposal to legalize retail marijuana via ballot initiative complies with the state's constitution.

  • December 19, 2025

    BigLaw And Boutiques Both Shine In 2025's Top 10 Deals

    A tight circle of elite law firms guided the way as megadeals roared back with force in 2025, while a small group of specialist and international firms also made their mark across global transactions spanning infrastructure, gaming, pharmaceuticals, artificial intelligence and energy.

  • December 19, 2025

    Calif. Ex-Customs Broker Sentenced For Tax, Wire Fraud

    A California man was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison after being indicted this year on federal fraud charges and one count of tax evasion, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

  • December 19, 2025

    9th Circ. Takes Up IPhone Buyers' Class Decertification

    The Ninth Circuit has summarily agreed to let consumers appeal what they had described as the "death knell" district court ruling that decertified their class of iPhone users that was expected to reach 200 million members in an antitrust case over Apple's App Store policies.

  • December 18, 2025

    The Biggest Rulings From A Busy Year At The 1st Circ.

    The nation's smallest federal appellate panel punched above its weight in 2025, grappling with numerous suits against the Trump administration, high-profile criminal appeals, a $34 million legal fee bid and a hotly contested kickback law.

  • December 18, 2025

    ITC Clears Toy Gun Imports, Will Review Smart Rings, Vapes

    The U.S. International Trade Commission has had a busy week in intellectual property, determining a series of toy gun imports don't infringe Spin Master patents licensed to Hasbro, instituting reviews requested by companies including Ouraring, AbbVie and Juul, and receiving several new complaints.

  • December 18, 2025

    Instacart Will Pay $60M Over FTC's Deceptive Delivery Claims

    Instacart has agreed to pay $60 million to resolve Federal Trade Commission claims it deceptively advertised "free delivery" on customers' first orders while charging a service fee and for not clearly disclosing the terms of its subscription membership.

  • December 18, 2025

    Amazon Can't Shed Class Status In Virtual Try-On Privacy Suit

    A Seventh Circuit panel has affirmed an Illinois district judge's certification of a class of more than 100,000 Amazon shoppers who accuse the e-commerce giant of illegally collecting and preserving their facial geometry data when they used the company's virtual try-on feature to preview products such as makeup and eyewear.

  • December 18, 2025

    Feds Say PE Firm Founder Funded Wife's Co. With $50M Fraud

    The managing partner of a New Hampshire-based private equity firm was indicted for allegedly fraudulently soliciting over $50 million in investments for purported health and wellness companies, using the money to support his personal image and wife's skincare brand instead of properly paying investors and employees.

  • December 18, 2025

    Trump Order Rallies Cannabis Industry, Advocates Want More

    The executive order signed by President Donald Trump on Thursday, marking the most substantial shift in federal cannabis policy in over half a century, is expected to have favorable ramifications for the marijuana industry even as it falls short of decriminalizing the drug or resolving the many tensions between federal and state law.

  • December 18, 2025

    Judge Wants Live Nation Antitrust Trial Limited To 5 Weeks

    A New York federal judge nudged the Justice Department and Live Nation during a hearing Thursday to limit next year's antitrust jury trial against the live entertainment giant to no more than five weeks, not the eight the government wants, although he left open the possibility for more time.

  • December 18, 2025

    Top Trade Secrets Decisions Of 2025

    The Ninth Circuit clarified the rules of engagement in trade secrets disputes with guidance on when confidential information must be precisely detailed during litigation, and jurors delivered a $200 million verdict against Walmart over product freshness technology. Here are Law360's picks for the biggest trade secrets decisions of 2025.

  • December 18, 2025

    Amazon Loses Bid To Upend AlmondNet's $136M Patent Win

    A Texas federal judge has denied Amazon's attempt to overturn a $136 million judgment against it, saying online advertising company AlmondNet had produced enough evidence to back a jury's verdict that Amazon infringed AlmondNet patents covering online ad space auctions.

  • December 18, 2025

    Apollo Could Fetch $12B For Atlas Air, And More Rumors

    The past week saw no lack of chatter about potential sales, backdoor discussions, fundraises, initial public offerings and activist investor power moves.

  • December 18, 2025

    EU Approves Bakery Biz Deal With Plant Sales

    European enforcers approved Belgian food group Vandemoortele's proposed acquisition of Délifrance SA from French grain cooperative Vivescia, conditioned on the sale of two production facilities for frozen dough products.

  • December 18, 2025

    Menards To Pay $4.25M To End 10 States' Deception Probe

    Menards Inc. will pay $4.25 million to resolve 10 states' investigation into allegedly deceptive marketing tactics they say the Midwestern home-improvement giant used while advertising its merchandise credit check program.

  • December 18, 2025

    Sprouts Grocery Brass Face Suit Over Rosy Growth Forecast

    The brass of specialty grocery chain Sprouts Farmers Market Inc. face a shareholder derivative suit alleging they hid the risks of faltering consumer spending, and ended up overpaying by $26.5 million on stock buybacks ahead of an October sales growth miss that caused the company's share price to fall.

  • December 18, 2025

    Plus-Size Fashion Co. Ashley Stewart Hits Ch. 11 To Nix Sale

    Ashley Stewart, a plus-size clothing retailer, has petitioned for Chapter 11 protection in New Jersey bankruptcy court, listing between $50 million and $100 million of liabilities and seeking to void the sale of its assets to a new operator called G Ashley.

  • December 18, 2025

    Fake Quotes In Pa. Patent Case Lead To Judicial Rebuke

    Two Barley Snyder attorneys have been directed to explain to a Pennsylvania federal judge how nonexistent quotes from cited cases appeared in a July filing, according to a recently published order that also denied a holiday light clip manufacturer's request for a temporary restraining order preventing a rival company from selling a similar product.

  • December 18, 2025

    DOJ, Plastic Resin Co. Resolve Tariff Fraud Probe

    The U.S. Department of Justice declined to prosecute a major plastic resin distributor as part of a resolution reached over a scheme promoted by a former executive to change the country of origin on imports from China to avoid duties, the DOJ said Thursday.

  • December 18, 2025

    Car Dealer Credit Check Co. Sued Over Breach Affecting 5.8M

    A company that handles credit inquiries for car dealerships is facing a proposed class action accusing it of negligence, following a cyberattack on its systems in October that compromised the personal information of more than 5.8 million people.

  • December 18, 2025

    Ringleader Of Beer Train Robbery Crew Gets 63 Months

    A Manhattan federal judge on Thursday handed down a 63-month prison sentence to a Bronx man who led a crew that stole nearly half-a-million dollars' worth of beer from trains, saying the defendant is fortunate nobody was harmed.

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    4 Former Justices Would Likely Frown On Litigation Funding

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    As courts increasingly confront cases involving hidden litigation finance contracts, the jurisprudence of four former U.S. Supreme Court justices establishes a constitutional framework that risks erosion by undisclosed financial interests, says Roland Eisenhuth at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association.

  • What To Know About Bill Aiming To Curb CIPA

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    A bill pending in the California Assembly would amend the California Invasion of Privacy Act to allow for the use of website tracking technologies for commercial business purposes, limiting class actions seeking damages under the act for industry standard practices, say Katherine Alphonso and Avazeh Pourhamzeh at Kaufman Dolowich.

  • How Attys Can Use AI To Surface Narratives In E-Discovery

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    E-discovery has reached a turning point where document review is no longer just about procedural tasks like identifying relevance and redacting privilege — rather, generative artificial intelligence tools now allow attorneys to draw connections, extract meaning and tell a coherent story, says Rose Jones at Hilgers Graben.

  • Gauging The Risky Business Of Business Risk Disclosures

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    With the recent rise of securities fraud actions based on external events — like a data breach or environmental disaster — that drive down stock prices, risk disclosures have become more of a sword for the plaintiffs bar than a shield for public companies, now the subject of a growing circuit split, say attorneys at A&O Shearman.

  • Series

    Playing The Violin Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing violin in a string quartet reminds me that flexibility, ambition, strong listening skills, thoughtful leadership and intentional collaboration are all keys to a successful legal practice, says Julie Park at MoFo.

  • DOJ Enforcement Trends To Watch In 2nd Half Of 2025

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    Recent investigations, settlements and a declination to prosecute suggest that controlling the flow of goods into and out of the country, and redressing what the administration sees as reverse discrimination, are likely to be at the forefront of the U.S. Department of Justice's enforcement agenda the rest of this year, say attorneys at Baker Botts.

  • Series

    NY Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q2

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    In the second quarter of the year, New York utilized every available tool to fill gaps left by federal retrenchment from consumer finance issues, including sweeping updates to its consumer protection framework and notable amendments to cybersecurity rules, say attorneys at Steptoe.

  • State, Fed Junk Fee Enforcement Shows No Signs Of Slowing

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    The Federal Trade Commission’s potent new rule targeting drip pricing, in addition to the growing patchwork of state consumer protection laws, suggest that enforcement and litigation targeting junk fees will likely continue to expand, says Etia Rottman Frand at Darrow AI.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Practicing Self-Care

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    Law schools don’t teach the mental, physical and emotional health maintenance tools necessary to deal with the profession's many demands, but practicing self-care is an important key to success that can help to improve focus, manage stress and reduce burnout, says Rachel Leonard​​​​​​​ at MG+M.

  • What Expanding Merchant Code Regs Mean For Processors

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    Arkansas and South Dakota recently joined a host of other states that restrict payment processors' usage of merchant category codes with laws that include noteworthy prohibitions against maintaining registries of firearms owners, with ramifications for multistate payment systems, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.

  • Forensic Challenges In Lithium-Ion Battery Fire Cases

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    Lawsuits over lithium-ion battery fires and explosions often center on the core question of whether the battery was defective or combusted due to some other external factor — so both plaintiff and defense attorneys litigating these cases must understand the forensic issues involved, says Drew LaFramboise at Joseph Greenwald.

  • ABA Opinion Makes It A Bit Easier To Drop A 'Hot Potato'

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    The American Bar Association's recent ethics opinion clarifies when attorneys may terminate clients without good cause, though courts may still disqualify a lawyer who drops a client like a hot potato, so sending a closeout letter is always a best practice, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.

  • Latest Influencer Marketing Class Actions Pinpoint 5 Themes

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    Several recent deceptive marketing class actions against both brands and influencers attempt to transform arguably routine business practices into a new focus area for consumer complaints, suggesting a coordinated approach to test what could become an increasingly popular area of litigation, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Dupes Boom Spurs IP Risks, Opportunities For Investors

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    The rising popularity of dupe products has created a dynamic marketplace where both dupes-based businesses and established branded companies can thrive, but investors must consider a host of legal implications, especially when the dupes straddle a fine line between imitation and intellectual property infringement, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • A Look At Trump Admin's Shifting Strategies To Curtail CFPB

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    The Trump administration has so far carried out its goal of minimizing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's authority and footprint via an individualized approach comprising rule rollbacks, litigation moves and administrative tools, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

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