Legal

Plastic shopping bags could be banned at Portland, Oregon’s larger grocery stores and other retailers as soon as Oct. 15. Mayor Sam Adams proposed an ordinance that's expected to easily win City Council approval.

Groupon’s practice of selling group-discount coupons with expiration dates is being reviewed by Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen for possible state law violations. Groupon's coupons may fall under the definition of gift certificates under Connecticut law, which prohibits gift certificates from being subjected to expiration dates.

Bankrupt Borders is on the brink of liquidation after the collapse of a deal with the Najafi investment firm aimed at saving the retailer. Earlier this month Borders designated Najafi as the opening bidder in a looming bankruptcy court action, but according to published reports, the deal fell through because of objections by publishers and landlords.

An arbitrator in Oakland, Calif. ruled in favor of a former American Apparel employee who alleged that his supervisor, Sean Alonzo, repeatedly called him racial slurs during a July 2007 business trip to renovate American Apparel stores in Tennessee. According to testimony, the company avoided disciplining Alonso until it was threatened with litigation in October. At that point, it gave him a written warning, followed by a pay raise two days later.

Borders has asked a bankruptcy judge to overrule landlords’ objections to the proposed sale of the bookstore chain’s assets and promised to provide more information about leases by next week.

A group of landlords have filed objections in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, disputing the process by which Borders Group is attempting to auction itself out of bankruptcy. According to the nearly 20 landlords that filed objections, the plan offers no information regarding which leases would be assumed by potential buyers of Borders’ assets.

Amazon filed a petition for a referendum with the California Attorney General's Office, the Associated Press is reporting. The referendum will ask voters to overturn a new California law that forces online retailers to collect sales tax.

Macy’s agreed to pay a $750,000 fine for failing to report that it sold children’s clothes with drawstrings at the neck, a strangulation hazard, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said.

Target has agreed to pay $160,000 to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit stemming from the retailer’s treatment of an employee at a Foothill Ranch, Calif. store, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said.

A California court denied Apple's motion for a preliminary injunction on Amazon.com's use of the term "Appstore" in a trademark infringement case. Apple hasn't established that its "App Store" mark is famous, in the sense of being "prominent" and "renowned," and there is also evidence that the term "app store" is used by other companies as a descriptive term for a place to obtain software applications for mobile devices, District Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton of the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California said in an 18-page order.