Labor/Employment Matters Top Retailers’ Legal Concerns

A new survey finds that U.S. retailers remain prone to legal disputes. The law firm Fulbright Jaworski LLP found that 93% of the retail companies surveyed in its annual U.S. Litigation Trends faced at least one new lawsuit during the past year, with 61% facing more than 20 new suits during that time. And 58% of the retailers reported facing at least one $20 million action, far more than any industry surveyed.

Not surprisingly, litigation has become a significant line item in the budgets of many retail companies. Nine percent of the retailers in the Fulbright study said that they spent at least $10 million on litigation, excluding costs of settlements and judgments, while 27% reported spending more than $1 million per year on business disputes.

Retail companies’ in-house law departments reported labor/employment matters (86%) as their biggest concern, followed by product liability (64%) and personal injury (32%).

Other key findings from the survey include:

The U.S. Litigation Trends survey reports on findings from multiple industries, as well as breakdowns by company size and region.