In our prior post, we discussed the personal side and some of the professional side of the contract dispute involving Macy’s, Martha Stewart Living and J.C. Penney over the Martha Stewart house collection, including cookware, linens and other household products. Sometimes, the beginning stages of a lawsuit can be confusing, so we’ll provide a little summary of this dispute for our readers who haven’t been following the story.

The story really begins in 2007 when Macy’s entered into an agreement with Martha Stewart Living to become the exclusive department store retailer for certain household products such as cookware and linens. Macy’s not only focused a large percentage of marketing on the products for their own sales benefit, but the marketing plan also helped build the Martha Stewart brand as well. The exclusive relationship came into question when Martha Stewart Living entered into an agreement with J.C. Penney in 2011 — a deal that was announced in December of that year.

In response to the announcement, Macy’s filed separate lawsuits against both J.C. Penney and Martha Stewart Living. The lawsuit against J.C. Penney was over the issue of whether or not the company knew about the exclusive agreement and went ahead with negotiations and a deal anyway with the intent of capitalizing on the business that Macy’s had helped build. The lawsuit against Martha Stewart Living was over the alleged breach of the exclusive term.

In response to the allegations, Martha Stewart acknowledged that there is an exclusive relationship with Martha Stewart and Macy’s. This relationship wasn’t breached, the company claims. Cited as justification is a clause in the original contract that states that the same Martha Stewart Living products could be sold in the company’s own brand name stores. The products under the new agreement with J.C. Penney would be sold in a “mini store” within the department and not mixed in with the entire household collections.

After the complaint and response period as well as discovery, the two suits were consolidated and the trial date was finally set for late February. That trial was and is expected to last around a total of three weeks — and the decision will come down to contract interpretation.

Source: Star Tribune, “Macy’s CEO says he hung up on Martha Stewart after learning of her deal with JC Penney,” Anne D’Innocenzio, Feb. 25, 2013