Discount Stores Suits

An Arkansas judge Tuesday found Wal-Mart Stores guilty of using predatory pricing to force competitors out of business, possibly paving the way for more lawsuits against price-cutting discounters. In his ruling, Chancery Court Judge David Reynolds ordered Wal-Mart to stop selling drugs and health and beauty products below cost at its store in Conway, Ark., and to pay nearly $300,000 in damages to three drugstores in that community.

Video game maker Sega of America on Thursday sued Kmart Corp. for allegedly refusing to pay a $2.2-million tab. The lawsuit, filed in Superior Court in San Francisco, claims Kmart failed to remit $2.2 million of a $25.9-million bill for Dreamcast video game consoles shipped since September 1999, when Sega launched the machine in North America.

Kmart Corp., the No. 2 U.S. discount retailer, won't have to pay the full $1.18 million awarded by a jury after an empty ice cooler fell onto a shopper, because part of the award was excessive, an appeals panel ruled. Delia Smith, 43, was with her husband, James Orth, in a Kmart store in Humacao, Puerto Rico, in 1995 when the 8 1/2-pound cooler fell more than 10 feet from a shelf, causing Smith to suffer head and back injuries.

Kmart Corp., the No. 2 U.S. discount retailer, won't have to pay the full $1.18 million awarded by a jury after an empty ice cooler fell onto a shopper, because part of the award was excessive, an appeals panel ruled. Delia Smith, 43, was with her husband, James Orth, in a Kmart store in Humacao, Puerto Rico, in 1995 when the 8 1/2-pound cooler fell more than 10 feet from a shelf, causing Smith to suffer head and back injuries.

Video game maker Sega of America on Thursday sued Kmart Corp. for allegedly refusing to pay a $2.2-million tab. The lawsuit, filed in Superior Court in San Francisco, claims Kmart failed to remit $2.2 million of a $25.9-million bill for Dreamcast video game consoles shipped since September 1999, when Sega launched the machine in North America.

Escalating a foreign policy spat with Canada, the Clinton administration said Friday that the Treasury Department is considering sanctions against the giant Wal-Mart retail chain because its Canadian stores are selling $9 pajamas made in Cuba. State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said that a 3-decade-old U.S. law prohibits foreign subsidiaries of U.S. corporations from engaging in financial transactions with Fidel Castro's government. "We have a law that we have to fulfill," Burns said.

With the proliferation of discount chains, sources for good buys in quality men's clothing are dwindling. And for the extra large or exceptionally tall man, the pickings are even slimmer. So when I spotted a sign on Topanga Canyon Boulevard for Big & Tall for Less, I circled the block and investigated. Were these off-brands? Not with Dockers, Levi's, Haggar and Wrangler on the rack. There is a large inventory of casual attire with well-known labels.

Escalating a foreign policy spat with Canada, the Clinton administration said Friday that the Treasury Department is considering sanctions against the giant Wal-Mart retail chain because its Canadian stores are selling $9 pajamas made in Cuba. State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said that a 3-decade-old U.S. law prohibits foreign subsidiaries of U.S. corporations from engaging in financial transactions with Fidel Castro's government. "We have a law that we have to fulfill," Burns said.

With the proliferation of discount chains, sources for good buys in quality men's clothing are dwindling. And for the extra large or exceptionally tall man, the pickings are even slimmer. So when I spotted a sign on Topanga Canyon Boulevard for Big & Tall for Less, I circled the block and investigated. Were these off-brands? Not with Dockers, Levi's, Haggar and Wrangler on the rack. There is a large inventory of casual attire with well-known labels.

An Arkansas judge Tuesday found Wal-Mart Stores guilty of using predatory pricing to force competitors out of business, possibly paving the way for more lawsuits against price-cutting discounters. In his ruling, Chancery Court Judge David Reynolds ordered Wal-Mart to stop selling drugs and health and beauty products below cost at its store in Conway, Ark., and to pay nearly $300,000 in damages to three drugstores in that community.