FORT MYERS, Fla. — Target has failed to steer a decide in Florida to dismiss a lawsuit that accused the retailer of deceiving shareholders after its gross sales of LGBTQ-themed merchandise for Pride Month sparked a backlash and a buyer boycott.
U.S. District Judge John Badalamenti in Fort Myers dominated that the plaintiffs had offered sufficient data for now to pursue claims that Target misled traders about its efforts to protect in opposition to social and political dangers.
The lawsuit from investor Brian Craig claims that Target’s board centered solely on activist teams’ requires range, fairness and inclusion measures and ignored potential unfavorable responses to the Pride marketing campaign in May 2023.
Target didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon Wednesday.
America First Legal, the conservative group that filed the lawsuit final 12 months, in a press release on Wednesday referred to as the court docket ruling a “warning to publicly traded firms’ boards and administration.” The group mentioned the danger of range, fairness and inclusion packages and environmental, social, and governance initiatives “can’t be whitewashed with boilerplate language or ignored.”
Target had urged Badalamenti to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that there was no proof backing the allegations, that it had warned traders a few potential range, fairness and inclusion backlash, and that the criticism was primarily based merely on Craig’s disagreement with the corporate’s enterprise choices.
America First filed the lawsuit in Florida federal court docket in August 2023.
America First and different conservative teams have accused some main U.S. corporations of enterprise range and inclusion efforts on the expense of shareholders.
Target pulled some LGBTQ-themed merchandise linked to Pride Month final 12 months, citing elevated confrontations between buyers and staff and incidents of merchandise being thrown on the ground.
