Cross-border Counselor LLP: Chinese E-Commerce Sellers File Class Action Seeking to Void Thousands of "Schedule A" Default Judgments Entered After Email Service the Seventh Circuit Has Held Invalid

Bilateral class action under Rule 60(d)(1) seeks relief from void judgments, an accounting, and restitution of money collected from mainland-China defendants in the Northern District of Illinois

CHICAGO, Sept. 9, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- A Ningbo-based cross-border e-commerce seller has filed a class action in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois seeking to void default judgments entered against mainland-China defendants in thousands of "Schedule A" cases, and to require the plaintiffs who obtained those judgments to account for and return the money collected under them.

The complaint, filed by Ningbo Jiaruisi E-Commerce Co., Ltd., which formerly operated on Amazon under the storefront name GENISBULB, asks the court to declare the thousands of default judgments void for lack of personal jurisdiction, to halt their continued enforcement, and to order restitution of funds seized from seller accounts.

The Seventh Circuit's decision in Kangol

The suit follows a May 29, 2026 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, the federal appellate court with jurisdiction over the Northern District of Illinois. In Kangol LLC v. Hangzhou Chuanyue Silk Import & Export Co., 177 F.4th 793 (7th Cir. 2026), the court held that where the Hague Service Convention applies, it supplies the exclusive means of serving process abroad — and that because no provision of the Convention authorizes service by email in China, email service on a mainland-China defendant is not authorized by Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 4(f)(3).

For years before Kangol, judges in the Northern District of Illinois routinely granted Schedule A plaintiffs leave to serve Chinese sellers by email or by posting documents to a website. Sellers who never learned of the case did not appear, and default judgments followed.

The scale of the practice

The Northern District of Illinois is the country's busiest Schedule A forum. According to the complaint, more than 8,900 Schedule A cases were filed there between 2012 and May 2026, by more than 1,900 different named plaintiffs, with each case typically naming dozens or hundreds of online sellers under a collective caption. The complaint alleges that thousands of those cases ended in default judgments against mainland-China sellers served by email or electronic publication rather than through the Convention, that tens of thousands of sellers were affected, and that tens of millions of dollars were collected from them.

"Kangol corrected an error that was repeated thousands of times in the Northern District," said Wesley E. Johnson of Cross-Border Counselor LLP, lead counsel in this action and in Kangol. "This case seeks to remedy those errors. Spread across tens of thousands of sellers, it adds up to an enormous uncompensated transfers of value out of the Chinese cross-border e-commerce sector."

The named plaintiff

In December 2022, WHAM-O, owner of the FRISBEE trademarks, filed a Schedule A action in the Northern District of Illinois, WHAM-O Holding, Ltd. v. The Partnerships and Unincorporated Associations Identified on Schedule "A," No. 1:22-cv-06802. On Dec. 13, 2022, the court entered a temporary restraining order that also authorized service by email and electronic publication. GENISBULB was listed as defendant No. 44.

The court later entered a default judgment awarding WHAM-O statutory damages of $200,000 against each defaulting defendant and directing third parties holding the defendants' funds to restrain those accounts and turn the money over. Amazon released $4,393.41 from GENISBULB's account to WHAM-O. The balance of the $200,000 judgment, along with a permanent injunction, remains outstanding against the company, and the complaint alleges that marketplaces and payment processors continue to treat the judgment as an adjudicated finding of infringement.

A bilateral class structure

The complaint proposes a plaintiff class of mainland-China Schedule A defendants and, unusually, a defendant class of the Schedule A plaintiffs who obtained non-Hague service authorization and then took default judgments. WHAM-O, which the complaint alleges filed at least 116 Schedule A cases, is named as the proposed representative of the defendant class. A subclass would cover sellers whose funds were actually turned over.

No class has been certified, and the court has not ruled on any of the allegations in the complaint.

Information for affected sellers

Many sellers named in Schedule A cases never received notice that a judgment had been entered against them, and some learned of it only when a marketplace account was frozen or closed. Sellers who believe they may have been affected — or who are simply unsure whether a judgment was entered against them — are welcome to contact the firm with questions. There is no cost or obligation to make an inquiry.

About Cross-Border Counselor LLP

Cross-Border Counselor LLP is a law firm with offices in Illinois, California, Washington and New York that represents United States and Chinese companies in U.S. litigation involving international legal issues, with a particular focus on intellectual property actions and cross-border enforcement.

Media contact
Wesley E. Johnson
Cross-Border Counselor LLP
105 W. Madison Street, Suite 2300, Chicago, Illinois 60602
Phone: +1 (312) 752-4828
Email: [email protected] 

Attorney Advertising

This release is attorney advertising. It describes allegations contained in a complaint filed with the court; those allegations have not been proven, and no court has ruled on them. Nothing here is legal advice on any specific matter, and nothing here creates an attorney-client relationship. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Sources: Complaint filed Sept. 3, 2026 (N.D. Ill.); Kangol LLC v. Hangzhou Chuanyue Silk Import & Export Co., 177 F.4th 793 (7th Cir. May 29, 2026); WHAM-O Holding, Ltd. v. The Partnerships and Unincorporated Associations Identified on Schedule "A," No. 1:22-cv-06802 (N.D. Ill.).

SOURCE Cross-Border Counselor LLP