Keller Rohrback L.L.P. announced that on November 25, 2009, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed and remanded a decision by the district court for the Western District of Missouri that had dismissed, in October of 2008, Plaintiff Jeremy Braden's ERISA class action lawsuit filed on behalf of a class of participants and beneficiaries of the Wal-Mart Profit Sharing and 401(k) Plan. Mr. Braden's Complaint alleges that excessive fees associated with the Plan's ten mutual funds resulted in losses of tens of millions of dollars in retirement savings, and that these funds -- all retail off-the-shelf funds rather than lower-fee institutional class funds, most of which charged 12b-1 fees, and all of which paid revenue sharing to the Plan's trustee Merrill Lynch -- were selected as a result of a flawed process that was influenced by the kickbacks paid to Merrill Lynch and that their selection was accompanied by a secret side deal to conceal these incentives. The Eighth Circuit opinion makes clear that Mr. Braden's allegations state claims under ERISA, a federal statute that protects retirement savings from waste or mismanagement. In particular, the Court stated that the totality of Braden's allegations raised a plausible claim that Wal-Mart's process was tainted by failure of effort, competence, or loyalty.

A Texas company has filed a federal patent infringement lawsuit against Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., T-Mobile and other major cell phone manufacturers, service providers and retailers based on claims that these companies are selling radiation-reducing cell phones without paying the inventors who hold the patent on the popular technology. The Dallas litigation firm of Reyes Bartolomei Browne represents Tyler, Texas-based DownUnder Wireless, LLC, against 21 companies, including manufacturer Samsung; service providers including AT&T, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile and Verizon; and retailers including Amazon.com, Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart and others.

Beer and wine will soon be available at two Fayetteville Wal-Mart Stores Inc. as a result of the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Division rulings. The Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market on East Citizens Drive and the Wal-Mart Supercenter on North Mall Avenue were granted beer and wine permits with votes of 3-to-1 by the board. The approval for the stores to sell beer and wine on-site makes 37 Wal-Mart and Sam's Club locations across Arkansas that sell alcohol. The Wal-Mart Supercenter on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard was denied a permit because of the traffic volume near the store. The board received the applications in August. After each was opposed by the board director, the cases went before the entire board for a decision. The board recently approved a permit for a Mountain Home Wal-Mart to sell beer and wine. Wal-Mart recently added beer sales to its Blytheville store, but the board denied a permit for its store in Fordyce.