New York Times, "Clothes Supplier Joining in Suit Against Federated"

          Nick DeLeo has a complaint, one he says is shared by many suppliers of clothing. Department stores, he says, take all kinds of unauthorized deductions from suppliers' payments - and he has decided to sue Federated Department Stores, America's largest department store chain, to prove it. Mr. DeLeo, a former clothing maker who is now a real estate developer in California, said yesterday that he was trying to join a class-action suit filed last year against Federated, accusing the chain of taking unauthorized deductions.
          Jonathan D. Selbin, the lawyer who filed the initial lawsuit against Federated, said that he had filed a request for a delay yesterday with State Supreme Court in Manhattan, asking for time to include Mr. DeLeo in the suit. Federated filed a motion to dismiss the case, but a judge denied the motion in December. In his case, Mr. DeLeo said the deductions by Federated, which are called chargebacks, amounted to several hundred thousand dollars.