The subpoena should be requested to the court, and the judge will decide whether or not to enter a court order to force Amazon to comply–if the court can not force whichever party to produce the needed information on their own, or if it’s (allegedly) not accessible to either party.
See below, and remember that “customer” includes Sellers for legal purposes.
From Amazon Information Request Reports: July - December 2023 Report:
See also: Law Enforcement Information Requests
Thanks, I will ask my lawyer to ask Amazon to provide information on how much damage this seller has caused also I saw a TRO can be filled, will try to get that as well
Its insane how many policies this seller has broken with Amazon taking 0 ACTION AGAINST THEM, even worse providing them with a vendor central account.
Yes! Definitely. TROs have been used effectively to suspend Seller’s sales while proceedings are ongoing.
So Amazon is declaring up front that they will ignore a normal civil suit subpoenas, which are issued by attorneys, under the banner of being an “officer of the court”, and thereby honorable. So, you print out this page, including the URL, and attach it to a demand for the court to impose sanctions, and charge Amazon with contempt of court, as Amazon helpfully allows you to skip the detail of actually sending them the subpeona and waiting some interval of time.
Judges actually love the opportunity to get medieval with some high-handed entity who tries to decide for themselves which legal processes they will or will not comply, and a company like Amazon is so large, judges can be assured of getting some positive press for throwing a very public tantrum.
Actually, you do not have to comply with a subpoena (not just Amazon, anybody can refuse to produce what the subpoena demands). If you refuse to comply with a subpoena, the party that issued it can request a hearing with a judge to get the court to compel compliance. Only then is Amazon required to hand over that information.
From what i have experienced and researched, looks like its cheaper for Amazon to deal with sellers thru Arbitration then to provide all sellers with actual good support.
Yes, this is mostly due to many sellers submitting frivolous claims and demands though. How many letters must they receive demanding that they reinstate listings that they will not reinstate?
Well, yes, there COULD be a need for a local enforcement action, but in THIS case, Amazon is declaring in public that they will ignore ALL subpoenas, and this refusal to comply is inherently contempt of any/all courts. A refusal to comply with a subpoena must be based on some crucial fact unique to the items being subpoenaed to be valid, such as “we sold that division years ago”, or “those records were destroyed in the hurricane of 1968”.
A blanket refusal? That’s gonna be a beating. Judges don’t play dat.
I’m sure their legal department determined that it’s legal for them to do that.
Personally I wouldn’t comply with any subpoena from a private company/individual. If you want something from me, get a court to compel it, otherwise beat it. You fully have the right to challenge a subpoena.
There are other types of subpoenas that shouldn’t be ignored. If you’re subpoenaed to testify in a court hearting, that’s a court order and you must comply. Likewise, if a govt agency subpoenas you, not complying or challenging it will likely make them go at you harder.
But if a private company/individual wants something from you, it’s generally best to make it as difficult/expensive as possible for them because it increases the chances they just give up.
If a law firm in active litigation issues a 3rd-party subpoena, your compliance certainly can be negotiated, but flat refusal is a good way to end up spending thousands on a legal battle that you will loose. Courts don’t care that your business will suffer some overhead costs - if you have needed records, then you will end up providing them, and the more bluster you use, the more the battle will cost you, with no “win” possible.
Better to be a good corporate citizen, and comply, subject to reasonable customer private concerns, as applicable.
I would argue it the other way. Fighting it every step of the way gets you a reputation as a difficult company to deal with, which reduces the amount of future demands that you receive. A few thousand bucks in costs to go to a hearing challenging a subpoena is also nothing to a big company like Amazon. And not every subpoena has merit (Amazon will certainly win some of these hearings and get the subpoena quashed), and even ones that do may be issued by parties who don’t want to spend the money themselves to get a judge to compel compliance..
How about just asking Amazon information about a specific seller rather then actually getting Amazon involved?
You need a lawsuit to get that information. There is a way to get it but it basically involves filing a lawsuit against a john doe, and getting the court to give you permission to subpoena a 3rd party for information. Then if that 3rd party refuses to provide the information (and it sounds like Amazon will refuse), you need to get a hearing as to why the court should compel them to answer your subpoena, either in full or in part
Without a lawsuit, sending a letter from a lawyer to Amazon legal is one way to try or do you think no chance?
I don’t think they’ll give you what you’re asking for if you send a letter. No company would. It’d be inappropriate to furnish customer information to a 3rd party without a subpoena/court order.
Again, Amazon said it doesn’t comply with subpoenas but it will comply with a court order. A letter from a lawyer is even less powerful than a subpoena. If the other Seller doesn’t comply during discovery, then you’ll need a court order.
Aa ok
Have you guys seen in which cases a TRO has been used in court?
I want to know if this would be an option for me and my attorney
Looks like when I seller gets hit with a TRO they get a case number(lawsuit?)
If someone has some case numbers where a TRO or injunction was successfully issued that would be helpful in this. Court records are generally public so you can pull these cases on PACER and get an idea of what they did to be successful at getting the order issued.
The second part of this is serving the order to Amazon and getting them to comply with it. How would that be done?
Not sure but if you search on forum there have been a lot of sellers served with it, Account seems to get funds frozen
It’s definitely doable since legally they have to comply, the question is whether you need a lawyer with an “in” or what to get it processed quickly
