The case has been active since and kicked up in mid-February when an indictment was returned in the case by grand jurors. That does not mean that Lincoln is guilty, just that there’s enough evidence for the case to proceed.
The jurors for the State upon above the defendant named above their oath present that on or about the unlawfully, willfully and feloniously date(s) of offense shown and in the county did KNOWINGLY DISSEMINATETO E.H., A MINOR, WHOSE AGE WAS 6 AND THUS UNDER THE AGE OF 13 YEARS, MATERIAL TO WIT: A COMIC BOOK CONTAINING IMAGES OF MEN AND WOMAN ENGAGED IN SEXUALCONDUCT, WHICH THE DEFENDANT KNEW AND REASONABLY SHOULD HAVE KNOWNTO BE OBSCENE WITHIN THE MEANING OF NCGS SEC 14-190.. THE DEFENDANT WAS 59 YEARS OLD ON THE DAY OF OFFENSE AND THUS WAS 18 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER AT THE TIME.
With that news, an assertion for a speedy trial has been submitted by Lincoln’s attorney, an assistant public defender. Also submitted was request for a recording of all phases of the proceeding by the Court Recorder as well as a request of discovery by the defense, and a motion to sequester witnesses.
Based on the voting registration of Brunswick County where this trial is set to take place, it is rather conservative with a 2-to-1 Republican to Democrat registration which could make this a tough fight.
We’ll of course follow the case and update as it progresses.
Diamond is now in chapter 7 and everyone is getting their outstanding balances in so that they might get paid what’s owed them. After an initial filing introducing its lawyers, the United Parcel Service (UPS) has submitted a filing in an attempt to get the $332,236.30 it says it’s owed. That total includes $330,757.76 in shipping services and additional $1,478.54 in fees.
The filing isn’t just interesting for the amount, but the exhibit filed listing out the names and addresses of numerous comic shops. It also represents another bit into the apple and less that publishers might see for their claims.
In February, a plan was hashed out between Disney, Warner Bros., Universal, and Midjourney over discovery when it comes to their possible trial. Now, a dispute has arisen over discovery and the numerous parties need the judge to hash things out.
This case impacts the comics community as both Marvel (via Disney) and DC Comics (via Warner Bros.) are part of the plaintiffs and specifically mentioned in filings.
We haven’t see what the dispute is but will update this article with more details or a full report when a decision is made.
The date of the conference will take place on March 12.
We brought the news in early March that there was some movement in the court case between Diamond and numerous publishers. The various parties and Diamond met on February 26 and March 3-4 in an attempt to find a resolution, the nature of the claims and defenses, to arrange disclosures, and propose a discovery plan. On March 4, there was a filing hashing out the plan for discovery, the process where documents pertaining to the case are handed over.
The issue is who owns the consigned goods that are still being held by Diamond. Ablaze, Battle Quest Comics, American Mythology Productions, Action Lab Entertainment, BOOM! Entertainment, and Fantagraphics are all fighting to get their inventory back. Diamond wants to keep the inventory to be able to sell it off to pay creditors. JPMorgan Chase Bank wants Diamond to sell off the inventory so it can get paid back by Diamond. Sparkle Pop is involved because it has sold off some of the inventory when it wasn’t supposed to and currently is holding the physical product in a warehouse it controls.
We said in our recent reporting that the earliest the trial would happen is November but likely December due to holidays. Well, we were off, because there is now a “hearing on dispositive motions” is set for January 27, 2027. That’s a hearing that asks the court for a ruling before a trial begins. The trial is expected to last 3 to 4 days.
Nintendo is an interesting court case as it not only can show “injury” from the tariffs paid, but it not only raised prices, it delayed pre-orders for the Switch 2.
Nintendo is asking for a refund of the IEEPA duties paid along with interest, reasonable attorney fees, and granting any more relief that might be “just and proper.”
The question still remains if consumers will see any relief from this whether in the form of getting money back, especially those who paid tariffs directly, or in lower retail prices.
Now, the Ad Hoc Committee of Consigners have filed a motion renewing their request for the release of the stock. Like the Consignment Group, a different group of publisher, the Ad Hoc Committee emphasizes that (old) Diamond has “rejected” their contracts that guided the relationship between Diamond and publishers while (old) Diamond was distributing.
That “rejection” of the contract triggers a bunch of next steps as to how to handle product that Diamond possesses but was provided by publishers.
The motion goes further into highlighting:
Sparkle Pop sold stock that was on consignment when it wasn’t supposed to. That stock sale has not been paid out to publishers, violating the contract.
Diamond by allowing the stock to be sold was a failure to safely secure the stock, another violation of the contract.
Those two points alone make the contract terminated.
Now that the contract is rejected/terminated/void, the “consignors,” aka the publishers, can remove their product at their own expense. In other words, the publishers can get their product back but will need to pay to do that, like shipping.
The motion raises other concerns that show Diamond is in breach of their agreements.
The motion states that Diamond’s insurance coverage has lapsed, a breach of their requirements.
Diamond has not paid their stock fees to Sparkle Pop, which bought some of Diamond’s assets and currently is holding the physical stock in a warehouse and since that breaches an agreement between Diamond a Sparkle Pop, Diamond is not officially storing the stock and has no means to store it.
But, in what might be the biggest bombshell of the filing, Sparkle Pop is being accused of continuing to fulfill orders containing consigned stock in violation of an order from the court.
From the filing:
One of the Consignor’s, Drawn & Quarterly Books, Inc. (“Drawn & Quarterly”) has a store in Canada. Drawn & Quarterly placed an order in 2025 with Diamond that included the Stock from another Consignor, Fantagraphics Books, Inc (“Fantagraphics”). Recently, on February 26, 2026, Drawn and Quarterly received an email, a true and accurate copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit B informing them that their order for Fantagraphics’ product had just been shipped.
This is concerning as the Consignors have been given no access to, or oversight of, their Stock since the commencement of this bankruptcy case. The continued fulfillment of orders, without the Consignor’s ability to verify proper control, safeguarding, and accounting of their Stock is extremely prejudicial to their interests and the preservation of its value.
Another Consignor, Living the Line, reports that at least 800 copies of a single title are not accounted for in any prior inventory report provided by Sparkle Pop. Thus, it is imperative that the Consignors regain possession and control of their goods because no party is accountable for missing items that are causing ongoing losses to the Consignors.
The above image shows Drawn & Quarterly ordering One More Year for their shop. That graphic novel was published by Fantagraphics in 2017.
But that opens up the question… what is up with the stock!? The consignors are getting no details regarding it, and haven’t for over a year. That impacts tax obligations and without an accurate account of the inventory, there’s no way to manage their financial obligations. Consignors “do not have an accurate inventory of and continues to depreciate in value.”
The Ad Hoc Committee has asked the court to grant the motion, order the distribution agreements officially terminated, give the consignors 90 days from the effective date of the order to remove the stock, and grant any other relief.
You can read the official court documents below including the evidence concerning Sparkle Pop.
Towards the end of February, the Supreme Court struck down tariffs enacted by the Trump administration. The vote was 6-3 and generally the justices ruled that Trump exceeded the powers given to him by Congress under a 1977 law providing the President the authority to regulate commerce during national emergencies that are due to foreign threats. What was undecided at the time was what should happen to all of the money paid already due to the tariffs.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection has told a Court of International Trade judge that it isn’t able to comply with an order to begin refunding the reciprocal tariffs. The CBP said in their response that the estimated amount related to the tariffs is “approximately $166 billion.” According to the filing over 330,000 importers have made over 53 million entries.
The Trump administration has been sued by hundreds of corporations looking to be refunded for the tariffs that have been paid under the IEEPA.
What also remains unanswered is if consumers will see any relief either in money returned or retail prices going down. Corporations passed along the increased cost of doing business to consumers who saw price increases at the store and some have been hit with tariffs directly when ordering internationally.
There’s a lot of side quests when it comes to Diamond’s Chapter 11/Chapter 7 drama. There’s numerous lawsuits that have spun out of it, dozens depending on how you want to count them. One of the more dramatic ones is Alliance Entertainment‘s lawsuit against Diamond and its associates.
In April 2025, Alliance Entertainment submitted a complaint against Diamond accusing Diamond of “fraud” and “deception” as far as their relationship with Wizards of the Coast, the company behind Magic: The Gathering. Wizards did not continue its distribution agreement past December 2024 and didn’t inform Alliance. Diamond and its representatives actually attempted to obfuscate it and keep it from Alliance during the deal.
That lawsuit has been slow, but ongoing, and now we have the next steps as it looks like there might be an agreement when it comes to discovery.
Discovery is the process where documents need to be handed over to lawyers allowing them to gather evidence. Emails, documents, internal chats, those are all examples of discovery and it can involve millions of documents depending on the lawsuit.
The following is what’s proposed and differs slightly from the original proposed dates.
The Parties shall make their initial disclosures pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a)(1) on or before March 10, 2026.
(a) Discovery Requests. The Parties shall serve all document requests, interrogatories, and requests for admissions on or before March 16, 2026. (b) Substantial Document Production Completion Date. Document production shall be substantially completed by August 31, 2026. (c) Fact Discovery Cut Off. Except for Rule 26(a)(1) disclosures, all fact discovery in this case will be completed on or before October 31, 2026. Fact depositions may be taken at any time prior to the expiration of the fact discovery deadline. (d) Privilege Logs. Privilege logs shall be produced in accordance with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure so as to be completed within fourteen (14) business days of the related document production. Privileged communications occurring after April 29, 2025, need not be included on a privilege log. (e) Experts. The Parties do not presently intend to call any expert witnesses. To the extent that changes, the Parties will meet and confer to discuss deadlines pertaining to expert discovery.
Also mentioned:
3. The Parties will submit a confidentiality order and ESI Protocol to the Court for approval on or before April 3, 2026. 4. Motions to join other parties, and to amend or supplement the pleadings, shall be filed on or before June 1, 2026. 5. Dispositive motions by any party are to be filed by November 30, 2026. Answer briefs in opposition thereto are to be filed by December 30, 2026. Reply briefs are to be filed by January 13, 2027. 6. A hearing on dispositive motions shall be set for February 17, 2027 at 10:00 AM in Courtroom 9-D, Baltimore – Judge Rice. 7. Parties must file pre-trial statements in conformity with Local Bankruptcy Rule 7016-1(b) within thirty (30) days of the Court’s ruling on dispositive motions. 8. Trial time estimate four (4) days.
This is a pretty big step for this case to proceed and looks like we’ll get an actual trial some time in 2027.
Today, a report was filed concerning the cases of Goodman Games, BOOM! Entertainment, Fantagraphics, and Avatar Press, laying out the plans for “discovery.”
The various parties and Diamond met on February 26 and March 3-4 to attempt to find a resolution, the nature of the claims and defenses, to arrange disclosures, and propose a discovery plan.
Discovery is a process where documents are handed over to the lawyers for them to go through. This could be contracts, emails, text messages, and more and is a gathering of evidence to be used during the trial. It can be a costly process and involve millions of documents that need to be sorted through. With that, rules and dates are laid out for the case concerning the discover process including on the production protocol.
There are key dates now as per the initial agreement.
(a) Discovery Requests. The Parties shall serve all initial document requests, interrogatories, and requests for admissions on or before May 11, 2026. (b) Agree on ESI Search Terms. The Parties will make reasonable efforts to agree on ESI Search Terms on or before May 25, 2026. (c) Substantial Document Production Completion Date. The Parties expect to have document production substantially completed by July 6, 2026. (d) Fact Discovery Cut Off. The Parties have agreed that, except for Rule 26(a)(1) disclosures, all fact discovery in this case shall be initiated so that it will be completed on or before August 31, 2026. The Parties have agreed that they may take fact depositions at any time prior to the expiration of the fact discovery deadline. (e) Privilege Logs. Privilege logs shall be produced in accordance with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure so as to be completed within five (5) business days of the related document production. Privileged communications occurring after April 29, 2025, need not be included on a privilege log. (f) Expert Initial Disclosures. The identify of expert witness and subject matter of expected testimony, per Rule 26(a)(2)(A) and 26(a)(2)(C)(i), shall be disclosed on September 8, 2026. Any rebuttal experts, and subject matter of expected testimony, shall be disclosed on September 18, 2026. (g) Expert Reports and Expert Discovery Cut Off. Expert reports and all other information required by Rule 26(a)(2)(B), along with any documents or information considered by the expert, shall be exchanged on October 8, 2026. Rebuttal expert reports and all other information required by Rule 26(a)(2)(B), along with any documents or information considered by the expert, shall be exchanged on October 29, 2026. All expert discovery shall be completed by November 20, 2026.
With that final date, that would mean the earliest a trial would happen would be late November but with Thanksgiving, early December is more likely and this agreement estimates it’d last 3 to 4 days.
