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Diamond and Alliance Lawsuit Schedule Adjusted, Delayed at least 5 months

Posted on September 2, 2026 by Brett Leave a comment

Discovery can be a very long and difficult process with Diamond Comic Distributors, its trustee Morgan W. Fisher, and Alliance Entertainment are all figuring out with new dates now approved by the court. In March 2026, a schedule was put in place regarding a lawsuit between Diamond and Alliance Entertainment spinning out of Alliance’s abandoned bid to purchase Diamond’s assets during the chapter 11 process as well as the counterclaims. 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.

Part of that schedule is what’s known as “discovery,” the process of exchanging documents such as emails, text messages, instant messages, basically communication and documents, that have to deal with the case. Each side then goes through the documents to find the ones relevant to the case and they can present that during the court hearing. It can involve millions of documents and be a difficult and long process. Often, lawyers outsource this to companies whose entire business is “e-discovery,” going through those documents and tagging the relevant ones and moving on from those that aren’t.

In late August, the parties submitted a filing stating that this is a “document-intensive case” and the parties have been working in good faith to make the process as easy as possible. One such example is agreeing upon search terms to more easily sort through documents. They state there’s “hundreds of thousands” of documents that are relevant to the discovery request.

The parties have worked diligently to review documents, refine their respective proposed search terms, and balance the needs of this case against the burden of searching through scores of non-responsive and irrelevant documents.

Basically, it can be a labor intensive, pain in the ass process, and they’re struggling.

The parties in their filing asked for dates to be shifted giving more time to prepare for the case and in particular discovery. The delays are about 3 to 6 months for each step with a hearing that was set for February 2027 shifted to July 2027.

Below ae the new dates for each step:

Event	Current Deadline	Proposed Deadline
Substantial Document Completion Deadline	August 31, 2026	November 27, 2026
Fact Discovery Deadline	October 31, 2026	February 26, 2027
Deadline for Dispositive PreTrial Motions	November 30, 2026	April 15, 2027
Deadline for Responses to Dispositive Motions	December 30, 2026	May 21, 2027
Deadline for Replies IFSO Dispositive Motions	January 13, 2027	June 18, 2027
Dispositive Motions Hearing	February 17, 2027	July 14, 2027

You can read the court filings below:

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Diamond and Trustee Morgan Fisher Dismissed from Sparkle Pop vs. Alliance Entertainment

Posted on August 26, 2026 by Brett Leave a comment

In June 2025, Sparkle Pop sued Alliance Entertainment for what it believed to be Alliance’s violation of a non-disclosure and non-solicitation agreement stemming from Alliance’s attempt to purchase the assets of Diamond Comic Distributors during the chapter 11 process.

On July 2025, (old) Diamond jumped into the case joining in as plaintiffs in the adversary proceeding.

There was then an order by the court asking why Diamond and its trustee Morgan W. Fisher shouldn’t be dismissed as intervenors on the case.

Fisher and (old) Diamond filed a response on June 18 but then that response was withdrawn on August 6.

The Trustee has determined that, at this juncture, there is no continued benefit to the Estates from his participation in this Adversary Proceeding and that dismissal of the Debtors and Trustee from this Adversary Proceeding is appropriate.

As such:

ORDERED, that Diamond Select Toys & Collectibles, LLC; Comic Exporters, Inc.; Comic Holdings, Inc.; Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc.; and Morgan Fisher, Chapter 7 Trustee are hereby DISMISSED from this adversary proceeding.

What was a two-on-one case is back to just being Sparkle Pop vs. Alliance Entertainment. While there’s another lawsuit between (old) Diamond, Fisher versus Alliance Entertainment, the stepping back from this case is an intriguing one.

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Diamond and Alliance agree to Modify their Lawsuit Schedule

Posted on August 21, 2026 by Brett 3 comments

Discovery can be a very long and difficult process with Diamond Comic Distributors, its trustee Morgan W. Fisher, and Alliance Entertainment are all figuring out. In March 2026, a schedule was put in place regarding a lawsuit between Diamond and Alliance Entertainment spinning out of Alliance’s abandoned bid to purchase Diamond’s assets during the chapter 11 process as well as the counterclaims. 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.

In an order agreed to by all parties, they have said that this is a “document-intensive case” and the parties have been working in good faith to make the process as easy as possible. One such example is agreeing upon search terms to more easily sort through documents. They state there’s “hundreds of thousands” of documents that are relevant to the discovery request.

The parties have worked diligently to review documents, refine their respective proposed search terms, and balance the needs of this case against the burden of searching through scores of non-responsive and irrelevant documents.

Basically, it can be a labor intensive, pain in the ass process, and they’re struggling.

The parties have gone to the court asking to adjust the schedule for the court case because discovery is just taking that long. It would delay the case about 3 to 6 months for each step.

No trial date has been set.

Below ae the new proposed dates for each step:

Event	Current Deadline	Proposed Deadline
Substantial Document Completion Deadline	August 31, 2026	November 27, 2026
Fact Discovery Deadline	October 31, 2026	February 26, 2027
Deadline for Dispositive PreTrial Motions	November 30, 2026	April 15, 2027
Deadline for Responses to Dispositive Motions	December 30, 2026	May 21, 2027
Deadline for Replies IFSO Dispositive Motions	January 13, 2027	June 18, 2027
Dispositive Motions Hearing	February 17, 2027	July 9, 2027

You can read the court filings below:

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SDCC 2026: Alliance Entertainment brings a Full-scale pop-up at the Hard Rock Hotel

Posted on July 10, 2026 by Graphic Policy Team

Alliance Authentic, part of Alliance Entertainment will bring a wide array of limited-run, Certified Uncirculated, NFC-secured offerings to San Diego Comic-Con. The lineup includes newly added vinyl records from artists including Olivia Rodrigo, Harry Styles, Zara Larsson, Charli XCX, Karol G, Hayley Williams and Angine de Poitrine, alongside collectible figures from Funko and Handmade by Robots.

Alliance Authentic’s collection is available through its online marketplace, recently redesigned around how collectors discover, preserve, and pass on what they own. During Comic-Con, the company will host its first-ever in-person pop-up at the Hard Rock Hotel, across the street from the San Diego Convention Center. Open to the public daily from July 23-26, 12:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., the pop-up features a full shop of preserved vinyl and figures. Comic-Con badge holders can claim and register a Handmade by Robots figure on-site, and every guest can enter to win a preserved piece.

Alliance Authentic will be at the Handmade by Robots booth inside the Star Wars Pavilion throughout Comic-Con. Highlights include Japanese-exclusive vinyl editions of the original trilogy soundtracks: A New Hope (blue vinyl, limited to 10), The Empire Strikes Back (red vinyl, limited to 20) and Return of the Jedi (green vinyl, limited to 20) – plus The Mandalorian and Grogu soundtrack on vinyl (limited to 30), and Handmade by Robots figures of Stormtrooper and R2-D2.

Alliance Authentic at San Diego Comic-Con 2026

Pop-Up Store at The Hard Rock Hotel
207 Fifth Avenue, San Diego, CA 92101
July 23-26, 2026
12 PM – 8 PM

Star Wars Collectibles Booth
San Diego Convention Center, Star Wars Pavilion
July 23-26, 2026
Wed, 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Thurs – Sat, 9:30 AM – 7:00 PM
Sun, 9:30 AM – 5:00 PM

Discovery and Confidentiality settled in Sparkle Pop v. Alliance Entertainment

Posted on June 5, 2026 by Brett

In June 2025, Sparkle Pop began a proceeding against Alliance Entertainment for “disregard of binding non-disclosure and non-solicitation obligations and its theft of valuable of trade secrets.” For those who might not remember, Alliance Entertainment originally won the bid for Diamond’s assets, then Diamond went with Universal Distribution and Ad Populum (Sparkle Pop’s parent company), then back to Alliance. Then Alliance ended their bid claiming fraud by Diamond and those involved. Eventually Universal Distribution and Ad Populum/Sparkle Pop won the bid.

Sparkle Pop accuses Alliance for abusing the bankruptcy process and gaining inside access to Diamond’s “employees, trade secrets, and proprietary information, all while delaying the sale of assets to legitimate purchasers.” Alliance recently hired seven Diamond employees which Sparkle Pop calls “poaching” and claiming it has “hobbled” its business. It further claims Alliance has “exploited its inside knowledge of Diamond Comic’s confidential information to usurp key distribution relationships with vendors and customers, further undermining the business.”

Alliance has signed a non-disclosure and non-solicitation agreement that bars the accused conduct according to the motion.

Two new orders have been handed down in the case regarding confidentiality and discovery.

The confidentiality order states that party to the litigation and non-party information can designate things “confidential” that contain trade secrets, sensitive technical information, marketing, financial, sales, and other business, contains private personal information, information that’s gained in confidence from third parties, and other information that falls under this in good faith.

It also lays out information that’s “Attorneys’ Eyes Only” and what confidential material can be disclosed. It also goes on about what happens if there’s a data breach, or unintentional disclosure.

We’re expecting a lot of this as the case progresses but we’ll do what we can to connect the dots.

Also release is the order regarding “discovery and electronically stored information.” Discovery is the process when the parties hand over information to each other relevant to the case, think emails, texts, Slack messages, that sort of thing. It can involve millions of documents that have to be gone through. This document goes through the details of the information, the format it has to be provided, and a lot more small details as to the data involved.

We’ll be having an expert on to talk about the discovery process and the details of this order.

You can read both documents below.

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Discovery Dates in Sparkle Pop’s Adversary Proceeding Against Alliance Entertainment Set

Posted on May 26, 2026 by Brett

Alliance has signed a non-disclosure and non-solicitation agreement that bars the accused conduct according to the motion.

There’s lots of details about violations of NDAs, employee’s confidentially obligations, and that Alliance is attempting to poach Amazon away from Diamond. Former Diamond employees named include Joe Lunday who called Amazon on his last day to tell them of his switching of employers. Diamond Comic’s law firm Saul Ewing has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Alliance on behalf of Diamond.

The motion claims the following counts:

Violation of the DTSA
Violation of the Maryland Uniform Trade Secrets Act
Tortious Interference with Employment Contracts
Tortious Interference with the APA and TSA
Injunctive Relief

Sparkle Pop is seeking damages to be proved during trial, a temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction and permanent injunction that would prevent further soliciting Diamond employees or any business relationship with Amazon, and using any Diamond trade secrets.

Since June, things have gone a bit wonky. In December of 2025, the parties agreed to some deadlines but Diamond also began to convert from Chapter 11 to Chapter 7 and there was a stay placed on the proceedings until February 2026.

The parties have filed a motion amending the scheduling order and clarify the applicable deadlines now that the stay has been lifted.

Per the latest filing:

Fact discovery will continue through November 30, 2026. The Parties may take fact depositions at any time prior to the expiration of the fact discovery deadline.
The parties will submit a confidentiality order and protocol for the exchange of electronically stored information to the Court for approval on or before May 27, 2026.
Any motion to amend pleadings must be electronically filed no later than August 14, 2026.
All other terms of the Joint Report that will binding upon the partes.

Discovery is a key part of trials where the parties get information from each other regarding the case. So, think documents, email and text conversations, stuff like that. It can involve millions of documents that have to be gone through and can be used as evidence in the case.

So, with discovery continuing through November 30, expect this case to go into 2027. You can check out the filed motion below:

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Alliance Entertainment Objects to Diamond’s Trustee Motion for Limited Borrowing from JPMorgan Chase Bank

Posted on April 22, 2026 by Brett

In early April, Diamond trustee Morgan W. Fisher filed a motion with the court for new financing from JPMorgan Chase Bank. That bank originally financed Diamond’s chapter 11 case with “debtor in possession” financing. JPMorgan also refused to provide more to Diamond which was a reason the case was changed to chapter 7.

Fisher asked the court for a new DIP credit agreement where the Trustee Borrowings are capped at $766,000.00 in new advances, plus such further uses of cash collateral.

In the filing, Fisher laid out three avenues for revenue in Diamond’s chapter 7 case, including a payment waterfall regarding litigation against Alliance Entertainment.

The Trustee believes that the Debtors have viable defenses to the Alliance claims and that the estates have viable, significant claims against Alliance. The Trustee believes that the potential recovery for the Debtors’ bankruptcy estates in the Alliance Litigation could be significant.

That litigation involves counterclaims seeking $30 million on damages from Alliance as well as the release of $8 million deposit that’s currently in escrow.

In the Alliance Litigation, the Debtors asserted, (and the Trustee intends to pursue), counterclaims seeking approximately $30 million on damages from Alliance, which include the release to the estates of an $8 million deposit in escrow. Given the complexity, scope, and potential value of the Alliance litigation, the Trustee proposes to retain, subject to Court approval, Kramon & Graham, P.A. (“K&G”), specifically attorneys Jean Lewis and David Shuster, as special litigation counsel to prosecute the estates’ claims in the Alliance Litigation.

Alliance Entertainment has submitted an objection to Fisher’s motion.

Alliance states Fisher’s motion is “devoid of any case law supporting the proposed financings under the circumstances of this case. The Motion relies entirely on conclusory statements. The Trustee does not even suggest he considered any other source of financing.” They further state that the motion skips steps of section 364 of the Bankruptcy Code in the lending request.

It also highlights that Fisher’s motion for the lending relies primarily on litigation claims. It’s not “presented as bridge financing to preserve a going concern, but as a vehicle to fund speculative litigation while expanding the secured lender’s priming position and superpriority status.” Basically, the funding is all about the litigation which might not succeed. There isn’t a “demonstrable benefit” to Diamond and is just “speculative.”

Alliance closes that the proposed financing benefits JPMorgan at the expense of the estates. The litigation proceeds are subject to JPMorgan’s liens, there’s JPMorgan’s superiority claims, and that any wins from the cases prioritizes JPMorgan. Diamond still owes the bank nearly $7 million. In other words, it’s a loan to pay back JPMorgan and not much else.

You can read Alliance Entertainment’s full motion below.

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Diamond Chapter 11

Alliance vs. Diamond Discovery Dates are Set

Posted on March 5, 2026 by Brett

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.

Check out the full documents below:

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Alliance vs. Diamond

Alliance vs. Diamond Gets Discovery Dates

Posted on February 26, 2026 by Brett

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.

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.

The following is what’s proposed:

(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 June 8, 2026.
(c) Fact Discovery Cut Off. The Parties have agreed that, except for Rule 26(a)(1) disclosures, all fact discovery in this case will be completed on or before July 20, 2026. The Parties have agreed that they may take fact depositions 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:

Protective Orders and ESI Protocol. The Parties will submit a confidentiality order and ESI Protocol to the Court for approval on or before April 3, 2026.
Case Dispositive Motions. Any dispositive motions must be filed thirty (30) days after the completion of fact discovery. Answering briefs in opposition thereto are due thirty (30) days later, with reply briefs to be filed fourteen (14) days after the filing of any answering briefs.
Joinder of Other Parties and Amendment of Pleadings. All motions to join other parties, and to amend or supplement the pleadings, shall be filed on or before April 24, 2026.
Pretrial Order. If this adversary proceeding cannot be resolved on dispositive motions, the Parties have agreed to file a Joint Pretrial Report within thirty (30) days of the Court’s ruling on dispositive motions.
Length of Trial. The Parties estimate that the time required to try this adversary proceeding will be four (4) days.

This is a pretty big step for this case to proceed and looks like we’ll get more about the middle of the year when it comes to a resolution and decision, if not before.

Check out the full documents below:

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Alliance vs. Diamond

Alliance Entertainment Appoints Jeffrey Smith as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Alliance Authentic

Posted on January 9, 2026 by Graphic Policy Team

Alliance Entertainment Holding Corporation has announced the appointment of Jeffrey Smith as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Alliance Authentic, the company’s newly launched premium platform for authenticated, numbered, investment-grade vinyl collectibles.

Smith joins Alliance Authentic following a highly successful tenure as Vice President of Marketing at Discogs, the world’s largest online marketplace for vinyl collectors. At Discogs, Smith played a central role in transforming the platform into a performance-driven commerce engine, driving substantial revenue growth, expanding global engagement, and deepening Discogs’ position as the definitive destination for vinyl culture and collecting.

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