Try our Advanced Search for more refined results
Retail & E-Commerce
-
June 25, 2024
DC Council OKs Tax Hikes On High-End Property, Payroll
Washington, D.C., would impose a special tax rate on high-end residential properties, boost the premium for the district's paid leave program and make other tax and spending changes under legislation passed Tuesday by the district council.
-
June 25, 2024
Pot Cos. Push Back On Calif. City's Bid To Toss $5.4M Fee Suit
Six cannabis companies are fighting the California city of Cudahy's bid to dismiss a suit alleging that the city reneged on a promise to waive $5.4 million in fees accrued during the COVID-19 shutdowns, saying the motion largely disputes allegations that the court has to accept as true under a motion to dismiss.
-
June 25, 2024
EU Opens Microsoft Case, Unappeased By Teams Unbundling
European Union antitrust authorities opened a formal complaint against Microsoft on Tuesday over the company's bundling of its Teams communications program with its Office 365 suites, calling out as insufficient the disconnection of the services Microsoft initiated last year to appease enforcers.
-
June 25, 2024
Ore. Tax Court Affirms $13M Valuation For Lowe's Retail Outlet
The Oregon Tax Court affirmed the $13.4 million tax valuation of a Lowe's home improvement warehouse, rejecting the company's argument that the property should be valued as if it did not have a lease in place.
-
June 25, 2024
Advance Auto Parts Hit With 4 Data Breach Suits
Advance Auto Parts Inc. has been hit with four proposed class action complaints over a recent data breach that one suit says exposed more than 1 million people's private information, some of which has purportedly already gone up for sale on the dark web.
-
June 24, 2024
5th Circ. Won't Revive Texas' Homemade Gun-Silencer Fight
The Fifth Circuit refused Friday to revive a challenge by Texas residents and attorney general against federal laws regulating the manufacturing of firearm silencers, finding the residents lack standing, since vague intentions to make silencers aren't enough to establish injury, and the state can't voluntarily litigate its residents' personal claims.
-
June 24, 2024
Pet Toy Maker Says It Never Inked Parent Co. Licensing Deal
Pet toy maker Kong has told a Colorado federal judge that it never gave a parent company permission to use its trademark for a line of large animal toys, claiming in motions that the company used the Kong brand anyway and deleted social media accounts with evidence of the infringement.
-
June 24, 2024
Apple, Amazon Assail Hagens Berman's Class Rep 'Charade'
Apple and Amazon.com blasted Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP for trying to "have it both ways" in an antitrust suit over a pact between the companies restricting Amazon iPhone and iPad sales to approved vendors, arguing the firm cannot withdraw its original named plaintiff without forcing him to testify.
-
June 24, 2024
Bid To Undo $71M Christmas Tree Patent Verdict Rejected
A Minnesota federal judge on Monday rejected a posttrial motion by Polygroup Ltd. seeking to overturn a $71.4 million judgment against it for infringing rival Willis Electric Co Ltd.'s artificial Christmas tree patent, saying the company failed to show that the verdict was against the clear weight of the evidence.
-
June 24, 2024
Illinois, Other States Back FTC Bid To Affirm Intuit Ad Ruling
Illinois, along with 20 other states and the District of Columbia, defended the Federal Trade Commission in tax software giant Intuit's Fifth Circuit constitutional challenge to the agency's findings that the company engaged in deceptive advertising, saying in an amicus brief that the FTC's conclusion was correct.
-
June 24, 2024
Mars Beats Dove Chocolate False Ad Suit At 9th Circ.
The Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal Monday of a proposed class action claiming that a Mars subsidiary falsely advertised its Dove dark chocolate products as being made without using child slave labor or contributing to rainforest deforestation, finding that the candy packages' "Rainforest Alliance Certified farms" labeling isn't misleading.
-
June 24, 2024
Missed Forecasts 'Not Fraud,' Advance Auto Tells Investors
Advance Auto Parts Inc. and its top brass are looking to exit a proposed class action alleging they misled investors about the failure of a new pricing strategy and purposefully inflated the impact of price reductions, saying that missed forecasts and accounting errors "are not fraud."
-
June 24, 2024
Gucci Goods Sourced From Mistreated Reptiles, Suit Says
Gucci and parent company Kering Americas are facing a proposed class action in Illinois state court by a former sales associate who accuses the luxury retailers of falsely claiming that their exotic-skin goods are humanely sourced, even though an investigation purportedly revealed that at least two Kering-owned tanneries were subjecting crocodiles and pythons to abusive slaughtering practices.
-
June 24, 2024
Tax Preparers Win Recommendation For Class Cert. In OT Suit
A group of tax preparers have met the requirements to form a class in a suit accusing their former employer of failing to pay overtime, a New York federal magistrate judge said, rejecting the employer's argument that their request for class status came too late.
-
June 24, 2024
Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court
Amendments to Delaware's General Corporation Law topped the news out of the Court of Chancery again last week, as the hotly contested measure sailed through the state's legislature. Tesla and its shareholders continued their tug-of-war over attorney fees for Chancery litigation about Elon Musk's pay package, and new cases were filed involving biotechs, car rental companies, workout platforms, telecom towers, and a cargo ship fire in Brazil.
-
June 24, 2024
Fragrance Co. Fined €15.9M For Deleting WhatsApp Messages
The European Commission fined International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. €15.9 million ($17 million) on Monday, after enforcers said a senior employee deleted WhatsApp messages during an investigation of potential anti-competitive activity in the fragrance industry.
-
June 24, 2024
Google's Brin, Pichai Must Face Texas Ad Tech Depos
Google CEO Sundar Pichai is bound for the deposition chair for four hours of testimony while company co-founder Sergey Brin is facing two and a half hours after a Texas federal judge refused Friday to spare the executives from a state enforcer antitrust lawsuit targeting the search giant's digital advertising placement technology.
-
June 24, 2024
CSG Ups Purchase Price For Vista's Kinetic Group To $2B
Marking the latest update in its bid to scoop up Vista Outdoor Inc.'s various businesses, Czech defense company Czechoslovak Group AS has raised its proposal to purchase Vista's sporting products division to $2 billion, a $90 million increase over the original price lobbed by the defense company back in October.
-
June 24, 2024
2nd Circ. Reopens Insider Trading Suit Against Hedge Fund
The Second Circuit on Monday revived a lawsuit accusing hedge fund Raging Capital Management LLC of profiting off its position as a corporate insider of 1-800-Flowers, rejecting arguments that a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturned circuit precedent allowing shareholders to sue beneficial owners who partake in short-swing trading.
-
June 24, 2024
Paper Bag Imports Found To Have Harmed US Industry
The U.S. International Trade Commission ruled that paper shopping bags from eight countries harmed the domestic industry, providing the final green light for the U.S. Department of Commerce to enact countervailing and anti-dumping duties on the products.
-
June 24, 2024
Blumenauer Predicts Cannabis Rescheduling Before Year-End
U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., a longtime champion of cannabis reform in Congress who is retiring this year, told cannabis attorneys on Monday that he was optimistic marijuana would be moved to Schedule III under the federal Controlled Substances Act before the end of the year.
-
June 24, 2024
Justices Won't Hear Objections To $2.67B BCBS Deal
The U.S. Supreme Court refused on Monday to review Home Depot's challenge of a $2.67 billion settlement in antitrust litigation targeting Blue Cross Blue Shield, along with a separate challenge of the attorney fees awarded for the deal.
-
June 21, 2024
Under Armour To Pay $434M To End Securities Fraud Claims
Under Armour Inc. has agreed to shell out $434 million to put to rest claims it inflated stock prices by hiding declining demand for its products, investors announced Friday, reaching a deal just weeks before a jury trial was set to kick off in Maryland federal court.
-
June 21, 2024
Nike Misled Investors On Sales Strategy, Ore. Class Suit Says
Nike and two executives were hit with a proposed class action lawsuit in Oregon federal court over securities law violations, with a Florida-based pension fund alleging stock value declined as the shoe corporation continued to mislead investors on the success of a change in sales strategy.
-
June 21, 2024
Live Nation Investor Sues Leaders Over DOJ Antitrust Claims
Live Nation's executives and directors were hit with a shareholder derivative lawsuit Friday in California federal court that seeks damages in the wake of the U.S. Department of Justice's allegations that the company monopolized concert promotion and ticket sales following its 2010 merger with Ticketmaster.
Expert Analysis
-
11th Circ. FMLA Ruling Deepens Divide Over Causation
The Eleventh Circuit's recent ruling in Lapham v. Walgreen distinguishes the circuit as the loudest advocate for the but-for causation standard for assessing Family and Medical Leave Act retaliation claims, though employers in other jurisdictions may encounter less favorable standards and the U.S. Supreme Court will likely have to address the circuit split eventually, say attorneys at Benesch.
-
2nd Circ.'s Nine West Ruling Clarifies Safe Harbor Confusion
The Second Circuit’s recent ruling in Nine West’s Chapter 11 suit clarifies that courts in the circuit will apply a transfer-by-transfer analysis to determine the applicability of Section 546(e) of the Bankruptcy Code, and that to be safe harbored, a financial institution must act as an agent with respect to the specific transfer at issue, says Leonardo Trivigno at Carter Ledyard.
-
Enforcement Risk Amid Increased Consumer Data Use
While no state has introduced a private right of action for noncompliance with a comprehensive consumer privacy law — except for the California Consumer Privacy Act's data breach provision — organizations and retailers face risk from enforcement actions by state attorneys general and privacy regulators, say attorneys at Dentons.
-
Litigation Inspiration: A Source Of Untapped Fulfillment
As increasing numbers of attorneys struggle with stress and mental health issues, business litigators can find protection against burnout by remembering their important role in society — because fulfillment in one’s work isn’t just reserved for public interest lawyers, say Bennett Rawicki and Peter Bigelow at Hilgers Graben.
-
Opinion
The Problems In Calif. Draft Behavioral Ad Privacy Regs
The California Privacy Protection Agency has an opportunity with its automated decision-making technology and profiling rulemaking to harmonize California's regulation of data-driven advertising, but this will be a failure unless several things are changed in its proposed treatment of behavioral advertising, say Alan Friel and Kyle Fath at Squire Patton.
-
A New Push To Clear Up Marijuana's Foggy Legal Status
A recently publicized U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommendation to reschedule marijuana has reignited discourse over the drug's federal legal status — and although rescheduling would mitigate the legal risks for the industry and drastically increase the resources available for industry participants, the path forward will not be clear cut, say Joseph Cioffi and Louis DiLorenzo at Davis+Gilbert.
-
Series
Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
A lifetime of skiing has helped me develop important professional skills, and taught me that embracing challenges with a spirit of adventure can allow lawyers to push boundaries, expand their capabilities and ultimately excel in their careers, says Andrea Przybysz at Tucker Ellis.
-
Think Like A Lawyer: Forget Everything You Know About IRAC
The mode of legal reasoning most students learn in law school, often called “Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion,” or IRAC, erroneously frames analysis as a separate, discrete step, resulting in disorganized briefs and untold obfuscation — but the fix is pretty simple, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
-
The Corporate Transparency Act Isn't Dead Yet
After an Alabama federal court's ruling last week rendering the Corporate Transparency Act unconstitutional, changes to the law may ultimately be required, but ongoing compliance is still the best course of action for most, says George Singer at Holland & Hart.
-
New FinCEN Guide Provides Useful BOI Context For Banks
Financial institutions should review a new Financial Crimes Enforcement Network compliance guide for helpful details about how the agency's beneficial ownership information database should be used, though questions remain about the access rule and whether it will truly streamline bank borrowers' Corporate Transparency Act due diligence, says George Singer at Holland & Hart.
-
How Firms Can Ensure Associate Gender Parity Lasts
Among associates, women now outnumber men for the first time, but progress toward gender equality at the top of the legal profession remains glacially slow, and firms must implement time-tested solutions to ensure associates’ gender parity lasts throughout their careers, say Kelly Culhane and Nicole Joseph at Culhane Meadows.
-
7 Common Myths About Lateral Partner Moves
As lateral recruiting remains a key factor for law firm growth, partners considering a lateral move should be aware of a few commonly held myths — some of which contain a kernel of truth, and some of which are flat out wrong, says Dave Maurer at Major Lindsey.
-
2 Emerging Defenses For Website Tracking Class Actions
Putative class actions premised on state wiretapping statutes that bar website activity tracking continue to be on the rise, but they are increasingly being dismissed on two procedural grounds, says Sheri Pan at ZwillGen.
-
Series
Cheering In The NFL Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Balancing my time between a BigLaw career and my role as an NFL cheerleader has taught me that pursuing your passions outside of work is not a distraction, but rather an opportunity to harness important skills that can positively affect how you approach work and view success in your career, says Rachel Schuster at Sheppard Mullin.
-
Args In APA Case Amplify Justices' Focus On Agency Power
In arguments last week in Corner Post v. Federal Reserve, the U.S. Supreme Court justices paid particular importance to the possible ripple effects of their decision, which will address when a facial challenge to long-standing federal rules under the Administrative Procedure Act first accrues and could thus unleash a flood of new lawsuits, say attorneys at Snell & Wilmer.