Toxics In Packaging: Are You Protected?

/ 0 Comments

As many direct marketers wrestle with the new Proposition 65 regulations (set to go into effect on August 30, 2018), there are other state laws relating to product safety as to which they should be aware.  We address here the nineteen (19) states that have enacted so-called “toxics in packaging” laws that regulate the presence...

Read More
separator

Proposition 65: Big Changes for Direct Marketers

/ 0 Comments

Starting next summer, you’ll be required put Proposition 65 product safety warnings in your catalogs and on your websites near every affected product.

Read More
separator

Class Actions: What Might Be On Your Horizon as a Direct Marketer?

/ 0 Comments

Companies who have faced class action lawsuits, even (and maybe especially) frivolous ones, won’t soon forget the experience.  Just getting a case dismissed, or fending off class certification in the first place, can be extraordinarily costly and stressful.   The amounts at stake are often huge–with potential downsides of “per violation” penalties in the four...

Read More
separator

CAN-SPAM: Is the FTC Poised For Major Changes?

/ 0 Comments

The FTC has asked interested parties to address a wide variety of questions concerning its CAN-SPAM rules, including whether the rules provide any benefits at all to consumers. Where might this lead?

Read More
separator

Spokeo Speaks — Again

/ 0 Comments

In Robins v. Spokeo, Inc., the U.S. Court of Appeals for Ninth Circuit has again allowed a case to go forward on a gossamer thread of alleged “harm,” despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s admonition that concrete harm must alleged.

Read More
separator

Reference Prices: Are You at Risk?

/ 0 Comments

Reference prices advise consumers that they are getting a bargain. The California Court of Appeal, however, just upheld a $6.8 million penalty on the grounds that a company’s use of list prices and comparison prices constituted a deceptive trade practice.  Amazon is also apparently under investigation for its use of list prices.  If past is prologue, we...

Read More
separator

Former Prices: A Class Action Trap

/ 0 Comments

Do you promote “former prices” to underscore the bargains you’re offering?  If so, you should be on high alert.  Increasingly, lawyers are targeting these kinds of promotions for sweeping class action lawsuits.

Read More
separator

Substantial Nexus Under Siege: Industry Fights Back!

/ 0 Comments

Martin Eisenstein and David Bertoni have published their latest blog for members of the American Catalog Mailers Association:  The Industry Is Fighting Back.   The blog goes over each of the major battlefronts in the states’ multi-pronged effort to overturn the long-settled Commerce Clause rule of “substantial nexus,” which requires that companies have a physical presence...

Read More
separator

Quill: Rumors of Its Death Are Greatly Exaggerated

/ 0 Comments

In their latest Legal Corner blog for the American Catalog Marketing Association, partners Martin Eisenstein and David Bertoni report on the multi-front efforts by states to convince the public that Quill’s physical presence requirement is no longer good law or to attack it through burdensome notice and reporting obligations.  The blog updates direct marketers on...

Read More
separator

Oregon Following in Ohio’s Footsteps?

/ 0 Comments

Its being reported that the State of Oregon is considering enacting a tax modeled on Ohio’s infamous Commercial Activity Tax (the “Ohio CAT”).  “The plan,” according to reports, “would scrap Oregon’s corporate income tax system in favor of a 0.39 percent Commercial Activity Tax, or CAT, modeled after Ohio’s system. It would also cut taxes...

Read More
separator