Retail & E-Commerce

  • July 30, 2026

    Split 4th Circ. Says NC Vape Sale Limits Pass Preemption Test

    A divided Fourth Circuit on Thursday refused to block a new North Carolina law that regulates and prohibits the sale of certain e-cigarette or "vape" products, saying a coalition of vape retailers and manufacturers are not likely to prevail on their theory that the statute is preempted by federal law.

  • July 30, 2026

    Valve Scores Quick Appeal In Gamer Arbitration Clause Fight

    A Seattle federal judge on Thursday granted Valve Corp.'s bid for a quick appeal of an order declining to halt antitrust arbitrations brought by hundreds of individual gamers, pausing the litigation for the video game developer to seek the Ninth Circuit's input on whether the arbitrations can proceed under its subscriber terms.  

  • July 30, 2026

    Cannabis Retailer Says Electrician Killed LA Store Buildout

    Cannabis retail chain Velvet Holdings Inc. claims it is out millions of dollars after a contractor abandoned a storefront project, resulting in Los Angeles building officials refusing to certify the location and leading to the loss of its lease and cannabis licenses, according to a California state lawsuit.

  • July 30, 2026

    CBP Outlines Rates, Classifications For Pharma Tariffs

    U.S. pharmaceutical giants aren't expected to face various tariff rates up to 100% on certain imported patented drugs and ingredients beginning Friday, but all importers must begin to classify their goods that will eventually be subject to the duties, according to customs guidance published Thursday.

  • July 30, 2026

    Albertsons Can't Nix 14 Years Of Opioid Claims At Wash. Trial

    Albertsons and Safeway can't dodge 14 years' worth of claims in Washington state's lawsuit accusing the grocery stores' pharmacies of irresponsibly dispensing prescription opioids and fueling the state's overdose crisis, according to a Seattle judge's ruling Wednesday striking the companies' statute-of-limitations defense.

  • July 30, 2026

    8th Circ. Agrees Chartreuse Color Can't Save Hose Maker's TM

    The Eighth Circuit on Thursday declined to revive a trademark that was asserted in a case brought by a water hose manufacturer against a competitor, agreeing with a federal judge who ruled the chartreuse color of the hoses was a functional feature and therefore invalidated the trademark.

  • July 30, 2026

    Split NJ High Court Backs Walmart In Snowy Lot Injury Suit

    The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Walmart didn't create the "unusual circumstances" required to make it liable for injuries suffered by a customer who slipped on a snowy parking lot, drawing a sharp dissent from justices who said the majority's take shunned case law and "bedrock tort principles" and misread case law.

  • July 30, 2026

    Skechers Can't Run From Manufacturer Tax, Mass. Court Says

    Skechers must pay nearly $200,000 in back excise taxes and interest, a Massachusetts intermediate appellate court said Thursday, rejecting the shoe brand's argument that it is not a manufacturer.

  • July 30, 2026

    DOJ Wants Rethink On Apple's Peek Into Feds' Phone-Buying

    The U.S. Department of Justice has asked a special master to rethink his New Jersey federal court mandate giving Apple a look into how the Pentagon, CIA, State Department and other federal agencies purchase smartphones, arguing that the retired federal judge applied the wrong legal standard in the antitrust case.

  • July 30, 2026

    Chubb Seeks Toss Of Costco's Customer Injury Coverage Row

    A Chubb unit urged a Washington federal court to toss Costco's suit seeking coverage for a personal injury action under a home décor brand's policy, saying the retailer failed to state a claim for additional insured coverage because the underlying injuries are not related to the brand's products.

  • July 30, 2026

    Impossible Foods Gets New TM Trial On Punitive Damages

    A California federal judge has ordered a new trial on punitive damages against Impossible Foods in a case over the "Impossible" trademark, ruling that the $1.75 million in punitive damages a jury awarded lifestyle brand Impossible X was against the clear weight of trial evidence.

  • July 30, 2026

    Ill. Atty Sanctioned For AI Slop In Starbucks Bias Suit

    A unanimous Illinois appeals court sanctioned an attorney representing a former Starbucks employee in a workplace discrimination suit after determining that he submitted briefs using false citations and quotations hallucinated by artificial intelligence software.

  • July 30, 2026

    Permira-Backed Reformation Prices $210.9M IPO

    Private equity-backed womenswear brand Reformation Inc. began trading publicly on Thursday after raising $210.9 million in its initial public offering, hitting the low end of its marketed range.

  • July 30, 2026

    $18.7M Deal In Turkey Price-Fixing Suit Gets Initial OK

    An Illinois federal judge on Thursday granted preliminary approval to an $18.7 million settlement resolving certain buyers' claims against House of Raeford Farms Inc. and Prestage Farms, the latest deal in sprawling antitrust litigation accusing poultry producers of conspiring to fix turkey prices.

  • July 30, 2026

    J&J Pans Talc Claimant's 'Absurd' Bid To Nix $25M Appeal

    In a sharply worded memo, Johnson & Johnson told the Connecticut Appellate Court that it should deny a "nonsensical" dismissal motion from a real estate developer who won a $25 million asbestos-related cancer verdict, defending its appeal of the trial court outcome as timely.

  • July 30, 2026

    Chinese Truck Beds' Covers Face Possible Triple-Digit Duties

    Chinese truck bed covers manufactured by certain exporters could be hit with triple-digit countervailing duties when exported to the U.S. after the U.S. Department of Commerce found Thursday that the products are subsidized.

  • July 29, 2026

    Albertsons Pharmacy Work Was 'House Of Cards,' Judge Told

    Albertsons pharmacists in Washington state repeatedly warned supervisors that busy workloads and limited staffing were making it difficult to review prescriptions before filling them, a state judge in Seattle heard Monday, during a bench trial in Washington's case accusing Albertsons and its Safeway subsidiary of fueling the state's opioid crisis.

  • July 29, 2026

    Trail Cam Co. Says T-Mobile Broke Tech Migration Promises

    T-Mobile is trying to plow forward with a plan to shift Tactacam-branded "trail cameras" that operate on cellular networks to a new technology even though all the tests have failed, which could make millions of cams useless, according to the company that owns those cameras.

  • July 29, 2026

    1st Circ. Mulls Temu's Bid To Reinstate Suit Against IP Atty

    A First Circuit panel seemed torn Wednesday over whether to revive Chinese e-commerce giant Temu's lawsuit accusing an intellectual property attorney of lying to induce the company into settlements with two clients.

  • July 29, 2026

    Patent Co. IP Suit Against Amazon Should Go On, Judge Says

    A Texas federal judge has recommended denying Amazon's motion for a win on standing grounds in a lawsuit asserting software network patents, finding that even though the inventors of those patents worked for different companies when they conceived the intellectual property, Edge Networking Systems LLC could assert them.

  • July 29, 2026

    Securities Class Actions To Watch: Mid-Year Report

    A trio of circuit court appeals tied to the class certification process in shareholder suits and a U.S. Supreme Court appeal that also touches on certification are among the cases that securities litigators are keeping an eye on in the second half of 2026.

  • July 29, 2026

    7th Circ. Flips Order Keeping 5 Baby Formula Suits In Ill. MDL

    The Seventh Circuit has reversed a district court's finding that five out-of-state necrotizing enterocolitis suits should stay in Illinois-based multidistrict litigation involving similar cases over allegedly harmful formula for preterm infants, saying the lower court went "far afield" in its fraudulent joinder analysis.

  • July 29, 2026

    Apple Accused Of Not Stopping Fake Wallet Apps' Crypto Theft

    Apple has been hit with a federal lawsuit in California over its alleged failure to warn consumers about fraudulent cryptocurrency wallet apps available on its App Store and the risk of cryptocurrency theft posed by those apps.

  • July 29, 2026

    7-Eleven Sued Over Worker's Death After Fight With Manager

    The mother of a 7-Eleven sales associate who died following an altercation with an assistant manager lodged wrongful death claims in California state court Tuesday, alleging the retailer knew through employee complaints that the manager tended to be violent yet failed to act. 

  • July 29, 2026

    FTC Says Hims & Hers Shares Health Data, Misleads Users

    The Federal Trade Commission and regulators in California and Utah allege in a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday that Hims & Hers promises patient privacy while actually sharing consumers' sensitive health information with Meta Platforms and other third-party advertising platforms and that the telehealth provider has deceived users about its billing practices.

Expert Analysis

  • Assessing EcoFactor's Impact On Damages Experts' Opinions

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    Though the Federal Circuit's ruling in EcoFactor v. Google gave rise to concerns that damages experts would be forced to rely on undisputed facts, recent case law suggests that those concerns are unwarranted, says Christopher Loh at Venable.

  • Opinion

    Apple Discovery Fight Could Revive DOJ's Antitrust Appetite

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    Winning discovery disputes in the ongoing federal antitrust litigation over Apple’s app store practices is a huge opportunity for the Justice Department to return to its once-vigorous pursuit of product tying by tech monopolies, catch up with foreign competition regulators and establish clear standards for digital markets, says Ediberto Roman at Florida International University.

  • Opinion

    State Bars Need To Get Specific About AI Confidentiality

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    Lawyers need to put actual client information into artificial intelligence tools to get their full value, but they cannot confidently do so until state bars offer clear, formal authority on which plan tiers of the three most popular generative AI tools are safe to use when sharing specific client details, says attorney Nick Berk.

  • Calculating Damages In IEEPA Tariff Refund Litigation

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    To calculate damages in the spate of refund litigation triggered by the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision invalidating tariffs collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the central question will be how to determine where in the supply chain their economic burden ultimately came to rest, say analysts at Charles River Associates.

  • 'Made In America' Rules Raise Stakes For Gov't Contractors

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    The convergence of widely varying "buy American" requirements, increased enforcement efforts and continuing regulatory attempts to limit foreign sourcing suggests that government contractors should carefully review their supply chain and country-of-origin compliance to remain competitive, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • Series

    Alpine Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Skiing has shaped habits I rely on daily as an attorney — focus, resilience and the ability to remain steady when circumstances shift rapidly — and influences the way I approach legal strategy, client counseling and teamwork, says Isaku Begert at Marshall Gerstein.

  • Opinion

    Wash. Amazon Ruling Should Reshape Suicide Liability

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    The Washington Supreme Court's reinstatement of negligence claims in Scott v. Amazon.com, brought by the families of people who died by suicide after purchasing chemicals online, signals a reckoning for digital commerce and the rejection of the defense that online marketplaces are merely passive technology platforms, says Donald Fountain at Clark Fountain.

  • What A Court Doc Audit Reveals About Erroneous Filings

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    My audit of 1,522 court documents from last month found that over 95% contained at least one verifiable error, with fewer than 1% showing clear indicators of artificial intelligence use — highlighting above all else that lawyers may want to focus most on strengthening their review processes, says Elliott Ash at ETH Zurich.

  • Appellate Strategy Lessons From Pa. Excess Coverage Ruling

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    In FedEx v. National Union Fire Insurance, a Pennsylvania state court recently set forth a clear holding that policyholders may recover postjudgment interest under excess liability insurance policies only when the policy language expressly allows, offering important takeaways for planning appeals, say attorneys at Hunton.

  • How Cos. Can Prepare For 'Made In America' Ad Scrutiny

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    The Trump administration's executive order to combat fraudulent "Made in America" claims in consumer-facing advertising, along with actions by the Federal Trade Commission, suggest a potential increased focus on consumer protection and pricing-related matters, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • Similar-Looking Designs May Not Always Prove Infringement

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    The Federal Circuit's recent decision in Range of Motion Products v. Armaid is a reminder that even a strikingly similar design might not be found to infringe upon a patented design once design features driven by functionality are filtered out from consideration, say attorneys at BCLP.

  • Series

    Ultramarathons Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Completing a 100-mile ultramarathon was tougher, more humbling and more rewarding than I ever imagined, and the experience highlighted how long-distance running has sharpened my ability to adapt to the evolving nature of antitrust law and strengthened my resolve to handle demanding, unforeseen challenges, says Dan Oakes at Axinn.

  • Spotlight On Legal Battles Over EEOC Subpoena Powers

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    Attorneys at Wilson Elser consider the spate of litigation over the past year, spurred by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s focus on alleged religious discrimination at universities, and corporate diversity, equity and inclusion practices, and how it may affect the attempts to assert privacy rights against the agency's broad subpoena powers.

  • Getting The Most Out Of Learning And Development Programs

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Junior associates can better develop the legal, business and interpersonal skills they need for long-term success by approaching their firms’ learning and development programs armed with five tips for getting the most out of these resources, says Lauren Hakala at Reed Smith.

  • A Shift In Fed. Circ.'s Approach To Patent Summary Judgment

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    The Federal Circuit's recent decision in Range of Motion v. Armaid may come to be seen as a seminal opinion for potentially exposing and entrenching the Federal Circuit's movement away from its previous framework for identifying obvious noninfringement cases, says Nicholas Nowak at Nowak IP Group.

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