People of the State of California v. Overstock.com, Inc.

Summary

In this e-commerce commercial law proceeding, Plaintiff People of the state of California alleged the e-commerce company overstock.com of making untrue and misleading comparative advertisements claims related to the products the website sells. The plaintiff counsels argued that the company advertised reference prices (ARPs) in different forms and asked its staff to choose the highest price they could find of any product as ARP and used it in advertisement. Moreover, the counsels also argued that the company claimed that it sold products which were similar to products being sold by other retailers while in actuality the products it sold were not to be found elsewhere.
The Plaintiff was represented by attorneys Matt Beltamo, Tina Nunes Ober, Catherine Borsetto, Kelly Walker, Matthew Cheever, Andres Perez and James Burlison. The defendant in this case, Overstock.com Inc was represented by attorneys Robert Feldman, John Pierce and Dane Reinstedt.

Outcome

The court denied the motions for judgement filed on 09/16/2013. It also decided that Overstock was in violations of the Business and Professions Code. Overstock was ordered to pay civil penalties in the amount of $6,828,000. There were stipulations put on the reference price shown on Overstock.com.

Case Information

Attorneys

Witnesses

Plaintiff: People of the State of California
Defense: Overstock.com, Inc.

Judge: Wynn Carvill
Jurisdiction: Superior Court of California, Alameda County
Court: Rene C. Davidson Alameda Courthouse

Case Number: RG10546833
Industry: E-commerce
Practice Area: Commercial Law

Expert Witnesses

Lay Witnesses

Sessions

Attorney

Witness

Type

Description

PM Session

Openings

5 Chapters

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	Opening Statement	Beltamo, Matt
00:34:46	General Case Activities
00:40:24	Witness Direct Examination	Jesrani, Anand	Ecenbarger, Mark	In Person
01:38:51	General Case Activities
02:02:43	End of Session

AM Session

Openings

5 Chapters

SEP

AM Session

Plaintiff Witness(es)

7 Chapters

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	Witness Direct Examination	Borsetto, Catherine	Finke, Linda	In Person
00:29:19	Witness Cross Examination	Nunes Ober, Tina	Finke, Linda	In Person
00:30:48	Witness Direct Examination	Borsetto, Catherine	Bride, Andrew	In Person
00:47:57	Witness Cross Examination	Nunes Ober, Tina	Bride, Andrew	In Person
00:50:56	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Borsetto, Catherine	Bride, Andrew	In Person
00:52:41	Witness Direct Examination	Lee, Archibald	Compeau, Prof. Larry	In Person
02:11:52	End of Session

PM Session

Plaintiff Witness(es)

12 Chapters

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	Witness Direct Examination	Lee, Archibald	Compeau, Prof. Larry	In Person
00:14:52	General Case Activities
00:20:14	Witness Direct Examination	Lee, Archibald	Compeau, Prof. Larry	In Person
00:29:42	General Case Activities		Compeau, Prof. Larry	In Person
00:36:20	Witness Direct Examination	Lee, Archibald	Compeau, Prof. Larry	In Person
00:47:48	General Case Activities
00:56:59	Witness Direct Examination	Lee, Archibald	Compeau, Prof. Larry	In Person
01:45:47	General Case Activities
02:00:04	Witness Direct Examination	Lee, Archibald	Compeau, Prof. Larry	In Person
02:21:53	End of Session
00:04:55	General Case Activities
00:08:46	Witness Direct Examination	Lee, Archibald	Compeau, Prof. Larry	In Person

SEP

AM Session

Plaintiff Witness(es)

2 Chapters

			Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
		00:00:00	Witness Cross Examination	Feldman, Robert	Compeau, Prof. Larry	In Person
		02:10:25	End of Session

PM Session

Plaintiff Witness(es)

4 Chapters

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	Witness Cross Examination	Feldman, Robert	Compeau, Prof. Larry	In Person
01:37:33	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Lee, Archibald	Compeau, Prof. Larry	In Person
02:17:51	General Case Activities
02:25:04	End of Session

SEP

PM Session

Oral Arguments

4 Chapters

SEP

PM Session

Defense Witness(es)

4 Chapters

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	Witness Direct Examination	Feldman, Robert	Byrne, Patrick	In Person
01:12:31	Break
01:28:47	Witness Cross Examination	Beltamo, Matt	Byrne, Patrick	In Person
01:55:23	End of Session

AM Session

Oral Arguments

4 Chapters

SEP

AM Session

Defense Witness(es)

10 Chapters

PM Session

Defense Witness(es)

4 Chapters

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	Witness Direct Examination	Nunes Ober, Tina	Moore, Seth	In Person
00:32:50	Break
00:38:05	Witness Cross Examination	Beltamo, Matt	Moore, Seth	In Person
01:32:39	End of Session

PM Session

Defense Witness(es)

5 Chapters

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	Witness Cross Examination	Beltamo, Matt	Moore, Seth	In Person
00:35:07	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Nunes Ober, Tina	Moore, Seth	In Person
00:48:23	Witness Re-Cross Examination	Beltamo, Matt	Moore, Seth	In Person
00:53:08	Witness Direct Examination	Pierce, John	King, Candace	In Person
01:09:53	End of Session

SEP

AM Session

Defense Witness(es)

9 Chapters

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	Witness Direct Examination	Pierce, John	King, Candace	In Person
00:22:18	General Case Activities		King, Candace	In Person
00:27:07	Witness Direct Examination	Pierce, John	King, Candace	In Person
00:38:21	General Case Activities		King, Candace	In Person
00:41:20	Witness Direct Examination	Pierce, John	King, Candace	In Person
01:01:40	Break
02:17:16	Break
02:28:38	Witness Cross Examination	Lee, Archibald	King, Candace	In Person
02:54:39	End of Session

PM Session

Defense Witness(es)

10 Chapters

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	Witness Direct Examination	Feldman, Robert	Murakami, Lani	In Person
01:02:11	Witness Cross Examination	Burlison, James	Murakami, Lani	In Person
01:47:37	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Feldman, Robert	Murakami, Lani	In Person
01:49:36	Witness Re-Cross Examination	Burlison, James	Murakami, Lani	In Person
01:58:18	General Case Activities
02:03:23	Witness Direct Examination	Feldman, Robert	Johnson, Jonathan	In Person
02:30:44	Witness Cross Examination	Burlison, James	Johnson, Jonathan	In Person
02:44:30	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Feldman, Robert	Johnson, Jonathan	In Person
02:45:25	Witness Re-Cross Examination	Burlison, James	Johnson, Jonathan	In Person
02:46:31	End of Session

SEP

AM Session

Defense Witness(es)

6 Chapters

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	Witness Direct Examination	Feldman, Robert	Steckel, Prof. Joel	In Person
00:26:02	General Case Activities
00:34:28	Witness Direct Examination	Feldman, Robert	Steckel, Prof. Joel	In Person
01:22:30	Break
01:34:09	Witness Direct Examination	Feldman, Robert	Steckel, Prof. Joel	In Person
02:47:19	End of Session

PM Session

Defense Witness(es)

5 Chapters

SEP

AM Session

Defense Witness(es)

2 Chapters

			Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
		01:23:56	End of Session
		00:00:00	Witness Cross Examination	Beltamo, Matt	Steckel, Prof. Joel	In Person

AM Session

Defense Witness(es)

7 Chapters

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	Witness Cross Examination	Beltamo, Matt	Steckel, Prof. Joel	In Person
00:13:03	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Feldman, Robert	Steckel, Prof. Joel	In Person
00:30:24	Witness Re-Cross Examination	Beltamo, Matt	Steckel, Prof. Joel	In Person
00:33:24	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Feldman, Robert	Steckel, Prof. Joel	In Person
00:35:05	Break
00:44:08	General Case Activities
01:07:48	End of Session

SEP

People of the State of California v. Overstock.com, Inc.

Summary

Outcome

Sessions

AudioCaseFiles

Essentials

Training Libraries

	Description	Attorney
00:17:59	Opening Statement	Beltamo, Matt
00:00:00	General Case Activities
02:03:53	End of Session
01:39:56	General Case Activities
01:44:01	Opening Statement	Beltamo, Matt

			Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
		00:00:00	General Case Activities
		01:04:10	Break
		01:26:06	General Case Activities
		02:58:33	End of Session

			Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
		00:00:00	General Case Activities
		01:19:07	Break
		01:32:45	General Case Activities
		02:28:21	End of Session