U.S. District

A federal judge has ruled that customers suing Target for last year's data breach may move forward with their claims. U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson in St. Paul, Minn., dismissed claims by plaintiffs in certain states but largely denied Target's request to toss out the proposed class-action lawsuit. Magnuson rejected Target's argument that the consumers lacked standing to sue because they could not establish any injury. The customers' "allegations plausibly allege that they suffered injuries that are 'fairly traceable' to Target's conduct," Magnuson wrote.

Wal-Mart was ordered by a federal judge in Arkansas to face a pension fund's claims the retailer defrauded shareholders by concealing corruption tied to bribes allegedly paid by officials of its Mexican unit. U.S. District Judge Susan Hickey in Fayetteville rejected Wal-Mart's bid to throw out the Michigan-based fund's lawsuit accusing it of making misleading statements to regulators about claims it paid bribes to facilitate Mexican real estate deals. Wal-Mart said it's spent $439 million since 2012 in connection with investigations into allegations that employees paid bribes in Mexico, China, India and Brazil.

A U.S. judge on Tuesday approved a settlement between federal antitrust authorities and eBay over allegations that eBay agreed to refrain from soliciting a rival company's employees. Under the deal, announced earlier this year, eBay said it wouldn't make deals with other technology companies about poaching each others' employees. U.S. District Judge Edward Davila approved eBay's agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice in a brief order. Hiring in Silicon Valley has been increasingly scrutinized. Six companies, including Apple and Google, settled with federal authorities in 2010 over nonsolicitation deals, without paying money. 

A federal judge has ruled against an online retailer that tried to force a Utah couple to pay $3,500 over a critical online review. U.S. District Judge Dee Benson entered a default judgment on April 30 in favor of John and Jen Palmer of Layton after KlearGear.com failed to respond to the couple's lawsuit. Benson ruled the Palmers owe nothing to KlearGear.com, but the gadget retailer owes them a sum to be determined at a court hearing in June, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.

lululemon won dismissal of claims that shareholders lost $2 billion because the athletic-wear company misled them about quality problems with its products, including bleeding colors and see-through yoga pants. U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest in Manhattan dismissed shareholder claims against the Vancouver-based company, founder and director Dennis Wilson and former chief executive officer Christine McCormick Day. Forrest ruled the investors failed to show that statements made by company officials about product quality were false and misleading. 

The NRF issued the following statement from its Senior Vice President and General Counsel Mallory Duncan in response to U.S. District Court Judge John Gleeson's approval of an antitrust lawsuit over credit card swipe fees. "We're very disappointed that this deeply flawed settlement has been approved. It's not supported by the retail industry and would do nothing to reduce swipe fees or keep them from rising in the future. The settlement permanently ties the hands of thousands of businesses who wanted nothing to do with this misguided case, and a decision to approve it violates established law and common sense."