Legal

A California court has handed eBay a significant victory in a legal dispute concerning the e-commerce giant's right to suspend the accounts of sellers who it believes misrepresent merchandise on their stores and run afoul of the company's terms of service. In late January, the California Court of Appeal for the Fourth Appellate District upheld an earlier series of rulings exonerating eBay for alleged antitrust violations in barring offending merchants from selling on the marketplace.

A federal judge in Nashville, Tenn. said Wednesday that Wal-Mart Stores’ female employees in Tennessee and four other southern states cannot pursue sex-discrimination claims against the retailer through a class-action lawsuit. The class action is being denied because it was filed too late.

J.C. Penney and Macy's are going head-to-head at the New York Supreme Court over whether Martha Stewart's contract with Macy's prevents J.C. Penney from selling Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia products in certain categories. Opening arguments in the case began yesterday.

Amazon.com used to be against collecting taxes on sales to consumers in states where it doesn't have a physical presence. In November, it switched sides. And when the Marketplace Fairness Act was introduced in the House and Senate last week, Amazon was listed among its supporters. So what happened? Lots. Amazon can expect to benefit from the collection of online sales taxes in at least three ways.

The apparent advantage online retailers have over their brick-and-mortar counterparts may soon be gone now that new legislation seeking to enforce the collection of sales tax for all retailers has been introduced. Introduced by Senators Mike Enzi...

One of the world's leading luxury brands has filed a suit against one of the world's largest discount retailers over allegedly false claims on engagement rings. Tiffany & Co. is suing Costco Wholesale Corp. to find out how many of the supposedly counterfeit rings the big-box retailer sold, the source of the rings and, of course, for monetary damages. This suit could have the same result of a similar 2004 charge that Tiffany leveled against eBay. In that case the court said it was Tiffany's responsibility to figure out the source of the counterfeit jewelry, not eBay's.

Retailers in most states now have the option to charge a fee to consumers who pay with a credit card. The new "checkout fee," in effect since Jan. 27, is the result of a multibillion dollar settlement announced last summer between credit card issuers and millions of merchants. Visa, MasterCard and nine major banks agreed to pay $7.25 billion to settle charges that they were fixing credit card processing fees. Credit card issuers agreed as part of the deal to reduce the "swipe fees" that merchants pay to issuers when cards are used, but only for eight months.

A federal judge in Ohio refused to block Zale Corp. from using an advertising campaign that touts the superior brightness of its diamonds, over the objections of a rival jewelry chain. Sterling Jewelers Inc., a unit of Signet Jewelers, filed a lawsuit in November accusing Zale of false advertising in claiming that its Celebration Fire stones are the "most brilliant diamonds in the world." Sterling, based in Akron, Ohio, said its tests found that its own diamonds are as glittery as those sold at Zale's. 

Bluestem Brands Inc. alleged in its lawsuit that Merkle, a database marketing firm, made various errors in creating and managing a database for Bluestem's Fingerhut and Gettington.com catalogs. The errors resulted in Bluestem sending "millions of catalog mailings" to "the wrong prospective customers," according to the lawsuit filed Jan. 17 in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. The incorrect mailings cost Bluestem more than $10 million in printing, mailing and other costs, the suit said.

There are several things predicted to cost more in 2013, including many consumer products and essentials. Retailers from supermarkets to consumer electronics specialists will likely suffer as a result. In December, I wrote "12 Things That Will Be More Expensive in 2013″ for Deal News. It's the third annual installment and based on my"11 Things That Will Be More Expensive in 2011″ list, has proven to be fairly accurate. First the good news, consumers can expect to get a break in two categories in 2013: gas and gold.