Legal

Those deep discounts on handbags, housewares and other goods offered up by online discount superstore Overstock.com may not be such a steal after all. On Thursday, the Sonoma County District Attorney announced the retailer was liable for false advertising and unlawful business practices. The major issue at stake was Overstock's apparent overstatement of customer savings. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Wynne S. Carvill hit the web retailer with $6,828,000 in civil penalties. Overstock may also have to ante up for the costs of the suit.  

When Macy's reports fourth-quarter results tomorrow, there may be some commentary about weak sales of Martha Stewart merchandise in its home department. At least that's what Macy's said last month in a court filing seeking damages from J.C. Penney in a two-year-old lawsuit. "Post-trial sales have now taken place, and the sales figures show that the effect of J.C. Penney's conduct on Macy's sale of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia goods was substantial," Macy's lawyers said. 

Avon, the world's largest door-to-door cosmetics seller, said settling probes into possible bribery in its foreign operations may cost as much as $132 million. About $77 million was added to a reserve for the potential settlements with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Department of

The National Retail Federation (NRF) is applauding a decision by the Treasury and IRS to delay implementation of some employer requirements under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) until 2015 and eliminate other requirements for small businesses. As a result of changes to ACA regulations announced on Monday, companies with 50-99 employees that don't yet provide quality, affordable health insurance to their full-time workers will report on their workers and coverage in 2015, but have until 2016 before any employer responsibility payments could apply.

A proposed rescue plan for the financially strapped U.S. Postal Service took a step forward Thursday when a Senate committee passed a bill that would end Saturday delivery and make permanent a recent, temporary increase in the cost of stamps. The bipartisan bill would also restructure the Postal Service's health insurance program and a $5.5 billion annual payment the agency must make toward health costs of future retirees, two shifts that would cut significant costs. Commercial mailers, meanwhile, oppose a provision to allow higher postal rates that's designed to bring the mail agency billions of dollars in new revenue.

Four senior senators today introduced legislation that would, for the first time, provide a federal standard for companies to safeguard consumers' personal information throughout their systems and to quickly notify consumers if those systems are breached. The Data Security and Breach Notification Act was introduced by Senators Dianne Feinstein, chairman of the Intelligence Committee; John Rockefeller, chairman of the

Walgreens, armed with a new patent, sued Rite Aid, CVS and Shopko Stores Inc., claiming they're misappropriating its technology for refilling prescriptions with mobile phone scanners. Walgreens, the largest U.S. drugstore chain, with $72 billion in sales last fiscal year, got a patent last month for a system to "express refill" prescriptions and is entitled to exclusive use of the invention, the Deerfield, Ill.-based company said in complaints filed Jan. 31 in federal court in Wilmington, Del.

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) yesterday sent a letter to Congress restating its long-standing commitment to ensuring the security of consumer data across the entire data-driven marketing economy. The letter states, in part:

The bad news keeps coming for Target. Jefferies analyst Daniel Binder said on Thursday that the retailer could face between $400 million and $1.1 billion in fines from the data breach that impacted up to 110 million shoppers, which "could be significant and higher than we first thought." That estimate doesn't incorporate lost sales or customer goodwill from the breach. It also doesn't account for potential negative side effects from signing up fewer loyalty card members or lower usage from existing cardholders.

National Retail Federation Vice President and Employee Benefits Policy Counsel Neil Trautwein testified yesterday before the House Ways and Means Committee on the impact of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), where he reiterated the retail industry's strong support for modifying the health care law's employer mandate and 30-hour requirement for coverage. "Many retail and restaurant employees do not fit neatly into full- and part-time categories and compliance with the unprecedented levels of change under the ACA will be particularly challenging," Trautwein testified.