Legal

I don't often get invited to meet with politicians about pending legislation, but next week I will have the opportunity to sit down with Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro to discuss the Marketplace Fairness Act. In preparation for the meeting, I asked Terri Alpert, an active opponent of the bill, to educate me about what's at stake for small businesses. Alpert is a well-respected CEO who has built two top-shelf brands (Uno Alla Volta and Artisan Table) that do over $14 million in sales, and employ more than 50 people year-round. If this bill has her spooked, I need to know why.

Ross Stores has agreed to pay a $3.9 million fine to the Consumer Product Safety Commission for neglecting to inform the commission within a mandated 24-hour period that it sold or stocked in stores roughly 23,000 pieces of children's apparel with drawstrings located at the neck or waist between January 2009 and February 2012.

Italy's prosecutors wanted the stylish pair locked up for a three-year prison term. They got 18 months instead. That's more than a fashion season and a grim prospect for the pair that, if they can't beat it on appeal, will have to leave their nearly 30-year-old D&G enterprise for a time. It's sad news if you're a fashionista. Much more, it's a cautionary tale to many high-profile businesses and individuals around the world. Taxes are everyone's business now.

Visa filed suit against Wal-Mart last week in order to halt future litigation over credit card swipe fees, according to a Bloomberg report. The retailer is one of several that recently opted out of a proposed $7.2 billion class-action settlement with Visa and MasterCard over price fixing claims, as CSNews Online previously reported.

Rock star Joan Jett's Blackheart Records Group sued mall-based retailer Hot Topic for trademark infringement, claiming the chain is selling its own line of women's clothing under the Blackheart brand. Blackheart, named for Jett's band, said in a filing dated June 12 in Manhattan federal court that consumers would be confused by apparel being sold by the retailer under that name. According to the complaint, Hot Topic approached Blackheart in February 2010 to design and distribute clothing and other merchandise featuring the brand.

Walgreens will pay $80 million as part of a settlement with the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) over a failure to report unusually large shipments of prescription painkillers from a

Organized retail crime may have decreased very slightly last year, according to a new National Retail Federation (NRF) study, but it remains a massive problem and the nation's largest cities are especially prone to organized activities. NRF's ninth annual Organized Retail Crime (ORC) Survey found that 93.5 percent of retailers said they had been victimized by organized retail crime during the past year, down slightly from 96 percent the prior year. For the past three years, more than 90 percent of the retailers surveyed said they were victims of ORC.

As I write this, the Senate just voted 74-20 to take up the Marketplace Fairness Act for debate and amendment, the bill's first procedural hurdle. The bill would empower states to require online retailers to collect state and local sales taxes for purchases. The taxes would be remitted to the state where the customer lives. Under current law, states can only require retailers to collect sales taxes if they have a physical presence in the state.

International fashion stars Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana could soon trade the catwalks of Paris and New York for time in an Italian prison. The duo behind Dolce & Gabbana, the trend-setting brand that's come to define Italian apparel, are facing charges of tax evasion in Italy. Prosecutors are asking the court to impose a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence for both men, Time notes.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. admitted to improperly handling and disposing of hazardous materials at its stores nationwide, pleading guilty Tuesday to several federal criminal and civil counts and agreeing to pay more than $81 million. The accusations against the retail behemoth spanned three criminal cases from the Justice Department and a related civil case brought by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Wal-Mart said