Legislative, Regulatory & Legal

New York – Despite some reservations, a federal judge is reportedly refusing to block a proposed settlement between Target Corp. and MasterCard related to the retailer’s 2013 data breach. According to Reuters, U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson in St. Paul, Minnesota declined a request from a group of banks and credit unions to rule against the $19 million settlement.

New York - Human error was the number one cause of data security incidents in 2014. According to a new report released by the Privacy and Data Protection Team at BakerHostetler, in the incidents that the firm worked on in 2014, employee negligence was responsible 36% of the time.

That was followed by theft by outsiders (22%), theft by insiders (16%), malware (16%) and phishing attacks (14%).Incidents were self-detected 64% of the time. Of the incidents reported by a third party, 27 % were due to theft.

New York -- Dov Charney, the embattled founder and ousted CEO of American Apparel, is suing the retailer’s controlling shareholder, Standard General, for damages of at least $30 million.
 
Charney accused the hedge fund of an array of misdeeds, including defamation, false light, intentional interference with actual and prospective economic relations, unfair business acts and false advertising, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

By Kevin Hughes, JLL

1. Keep Your Options — And Doors — Open: The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is designed to prohibit discrimination and ensure equal opportunity for people with disabilities. In effect since 1991, it has undergone updates, affecting most commercial real estate in some fashion. In fact, all commercial spaces used by the public – as well as many employee-use areas – are required by law to comply with ADA regulations.

Issaquah, Wash. – Costco Wholesale Corp. is reportedly off to a litigious start in the first half of 2015. According to the Wall Street Journal, Costco is suing Johnson & Johnson’s Vision Care division for allegedly fixing prices on contact lenses.

San Jose, Calif. – eBay Inc. shareholders have reportedly voted themselves a measure of power to nominate directors on the company’s board. According to the Wall Street Journal, 59% of shares voting at the meeting approved allowing investors who hold at least 3% of eBay’s shares for three years to nominate up to 25% of the company’s directors.

Canada represents a dynamic market for U.S. retailers looking for store expansion opportunities.

Phoenix – Local communities in Arizona reportedly can no longer ban plastic bags. According to the Associated Press, the Arizona state legislature has voted to make it illegal for cities and town to forbid the use of plastic bags, as well as Styrofoam containers or other disposable products, within their limits.

The state law also restricts local communities from requiring businesses to report energy usage.

The upcoming Oct. 1, 2015, mandate for U.S. retailers to adopt POS systems that can securely accept and process transactions using EMV (Europay, MasterCard, Visa)-compliant, chip-based payment cards is fast approaching. Retailers that are not in compliance with the mandate after that date will be held liable for any fraudulent transaction committed with a chip-based card.

Minneapolis – Doug Baker, CEO of environmental technology firm Ecolab, has been named by Target Corp. as lead independent director of the Target board. Baker, who already serves as an independent director for Target, will replace current independent director Jim Johnson, who is retiring from the board in June after almost 20 years.