Food & Beverage

  • June 05, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Questions Willfulness Finding Over Meat Slicer Patent

    A Federal Circuit panel appeared wary Wednesday of Provisur Technologies Inc.'s argument that Weber Inc. knew it was infringing its patents for meat slicing and packaging machines, the basis for a $10.5 million judgment against Weber last year.

  • June 05, 2024

    Texas Tamale Co. Wins Partial Injunction In Trademark Case

    A Texas federal magistrate judge has found that a Fort Worth tamale outfit called Texas Lone Star Tamales can't use certain phrases in its advertising but limited some language in a requested injunction.

  • June 05, 2024

    TTAB Rejects Gin Maker's Attempt To Narrow 'Iron Balls' Mark

    The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board has refused a gin maker's bid to force a Texas brewery to limit its use of the phrase "Iron Balls" to craft microbrews instead of just "beer," saying such a change wouldn't make confusion any less likely.

  • June 05, 2024

    Ill. Budget Has Higher Cap On NOLs, Sports Betting Tax Hike

    Illinois will extend a cap on corporate net operating loss deductions, increase its sports betting tax and reduce sales tax rebates for retailers under a $53.1 billion fiscal year 2025 budget signed Wednesday by Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

  • June 05, 2024

    Hiring Pattern Dooms Mo. Spa's Quest For Foreign Waitstaff

    A lakeside Missouri resort and spa lost in its quest to hire 15 foreign waitstaff for its tourist season after a U.S. Department of Labor appeals board ruled the resort failed to show its need for the foreign staff was temporary.

  • June 05, 2024

    Davis Polk Guiding Dollar Tree On Potential Family Dollar Sale

    Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP is representing Dollar Tree Inc. in a formal strategic review of its Family Dollar business that could lead to a sale, spinoff or other disposition, the Virginia-based retailer revealed Wednesday.

  • June 05, 2024

    McDonald's Loses 'Big Mac' TM Rights Over Poultry In EU

    A European Union court on Wednesday stripped McDonald's of its right to use the "Big Mac" trademark on chicken sandwiches in the bloc, ruling that the fast food giant had failed to put the sign to proper use on poultry products in recent years.

  • June 05, 2024

    Fish Taco Chain Rubio's Files 2nd Bankruptcy In 4 Years

    The California-based fish taco-focused chain Rubio's Coastal Grill filed its second Chapter 11 bankruptcy in four years on Wednesday in Delaware, saying it had between $100 million and $500 million of liabilities and plans for an asset sale.

  • June 04, 2024

    9th Circ. Backs Agency Denial Of Partnership's Crop Policy

    The Federal Crop Insurance Corp. reasonably interpreted a policy that was canceled by an insurer after a farming partnership filed a claim seeking the full $1.9 million limit, the Ninth Circuit ruled Tuesday, affirming a decision backing the FCIC's conclusion that the operation didn't qualify for coverage.

  • June 04, 2024

    Shrimp Group Tries To Revive Commerce's Abandoned Duties

    A shrimp producers' trade group advocated at the Federal Circuit on Tuesday for anti-dumping duty rates that the U.S. Department of Commerce has abandoned, after the agency recalculated and lowered the rates following an order from the U.S. Court of International Trade.

  • June 04, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Pours Doubt On Trademark Board's 'Cognac' Ruling

    Federal Circuit judges on Tuesday repeatedly expressed skepticism over a split administrative board ruling that allowed a small hip-hop record label to land a trademark using the word "cognac" over objections from the cognac distilling industry.

  • June 04, 2024

    Regions Bank Escapes Ex-Ruby Tuesday Execs' Benefits Suit

    A Tennessee federal judge threw out a lawsuit lodged by former Ruby Tuesday managers alleging Regions Bank caused them to lose out on more than $35 million by inadequately protecting their pensions and breaching its duties as trustee, saying the retirement plans in question are exempt from federal benefits law.

  • June 04, 2024

    SEC Inks Deal With Ex-Food Co. Execs Over Misspent Funds

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has reached a $7.8 million settlement with former executives of HF Foods over claims they siphoned millions of dollars from the company for personal use in a scheme that was eventually revealed after HF Foods went public with a blank check company.

  • June 04, 2024

    DOD, Supplier End Long-Running Dispute Over $8B Food Deal

    The Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals has tossed all remaining claims in a long-running dispute over Supreme Foodservice GmbH's roughly $8 billion contract to provide food to U.S. troops, after the company and the Defense Logistics Agency jointly agreed to end the case.

  • June 04, 2024

    Franchise Co. Faces Sanctions For 'Frivolous' 7th Circ. Appeal

    The Seventh Circuit has upheld a district court's order that restaurant franchise company Sun Holdings Inc. must pay insurer American Zurich a roughly $1.1 million arbitration award plus interest and attorney fees in a dispute over a workers' compensation policy, and ordered Sun Holdings to show cause for why further sanctions aren't warranted for a "frivolous appeal."

  • June 04, 2024

    Red States Target EPA's Tribal Water Rights Rule

    A group of red states has told a federal court that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has turned the Clean Water Act into what they derisively called the "Tribal Rights Act," through a rule that protects Native American rights to water resources.

  • June 04, 2024

    Mondelez, BCLP Must Face Negligence Claims Over 2023 Breach

    An Illinois federal judge has trimmed the majority of claims in proposed data privacy class actions brought by Mondelez workers against their employer and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP stemming from a 2023 data breach, although the company and law firm couldn't shake the cases entirely. 

  • June 03, 2024

    General Mills Facility Run By White Supremacists, Suit Says

    General Mills workers sued in Georgia federal court on Sunday alleging the food giant tolerated a racist environment at its Covington plant perpetuated by a fraternity of white male supremacists who used Confederate and Ku Klux Klan-associated imagery and who treated Black workers unfairly, including by denying them promotions.

  • June 03, 2024

    Hooters Can't Yet Ditch Ex-Workers' Sex Harassment Claims

    A California appellate court has refused to undo a lower court's decision finding that Hooters of America must continue to fight former servers' allegations that they were harassed and abused at work, ruling that Hooters hasn't met its burden of showing that it was entitled to summary adjudication.

  • June 03, 2024

    California Pizza Kitchen Hack Deal Is Half Baked, 9th Circ. Told

    An attorney for objectors to a settlement between a class of current and former California Pizza Kitchen employees and the restaurant chain over a data breach told a Ninth Circuit panel on Monday that the district court did not properly scrutinize the deal or allegations of collusion between the parties.

  • June 03, 2024

    USDA Proposes Another Rule To Protect Chicken Farmers

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture proposed a rule Monday to make changes to the way poultry farmers are compensated, as the agency looks to address alleged abuses by the large processing companies that also supply the chickens.

  • June 03, 2024

    Kroger, Albertsons Can't Get More Info On FTC Markets

    An Oregon federal judge denied Kroger and Albertsons' requests for more information on the markets at issue in the Federal Trade Commission's ongoing attempt to block their merger, saying the companies' request is premature and excessively broad.

  • June 03, 2024

    Burford-Sysco Plaintiff Swap Stays Nixed In Price-Fixing Case

    A Minnesota federal judge refused Monday to let a unit of legal investment firm Burford Capital substitute for Sysco Corp. as plaintiff in sprawling price-fixing lawsuits against pork and beef producers, agreeing with a magistrate judge's conclusions that allowing a litigation funder to dictate antitrust settlements "could have a detrimental impact."

  • June 03, 2024

    Treasury Aims To Salvage Corp. Transparency Act At 11th Circ.

    The Corporate Transparency Act is a valid exercise of congressional authority to curb money laundering under the commerce clause and the necessary and proper clause in the Constitution, the U.S. Treasury Department told the Eleventh Circuit on Monday in a bid to restore the law's reporting requirements.

  • June 03, 2024

    El Pollo Loco Hit With Wage, Hostile Work Environment Claims

    El Pollo Loco did not provide a former assistant manager with meal breaks or overtime or pay him the full wages he was promised, and store managers mocked him for requesting leave to tend to his ailing mother, the ex-worker alleged in a complaint filed in state court.

Expert Analysis

  • Legislative And Litigation Trends In Environmental Advertising

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    Companies that tout their products' environmental benefits can significantly reduce the risk that they will face allegations of greenwashing by staying up to date on related Federal Trade Commission guidance, state requirements and litigation trends, say Raqiyyah Pippins and Kelsie Sicinski at Arnold & Porter.

  • What's On The Horizon In Attorney General Enforcement

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    A look at recent attorney general actions, especially in the areas of antitrust and artificial intelligence, can help inform businesses on what they should expect in terms of enforcement trends as 10 attorney general races play out in 2024, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Reducing The Risk Of PFAS False Advertising Class Actions

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    A wave of class actions continues to pummel products that allegedly contain per- or polyfluoroalkyl substances, with plaintiffs challenging advertising that they say misleads consumers by implying an absence of PFAS — but there are steps companies can take to minimize risk, say attorneys at Keller and Heckman.

  • Aldi Design Infringement Case Highlights Assessment Issues

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    The forthcoming English Court of Appeal decision in Marks and Spencer v. Aldi, regarding the alleged infringement of design rights, could provide practitioners with new guidance, particularly in relation to the relevant date for assessment of infringement and the weight that should be attributed to certain design elements in making this assessment, say Rory Graham and Georgia Davis at RPC.

  • USCIS Fee Increases May Have Unintended Consequences

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    U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ new fee schedule, intended to provide the agency with needed funds while minimizing the impact of higher fees on individual immigrants and their families, shifts too much of the burden onto employers, say Juan Steevens and William Coffman at Mintz.

  • Series

    Coaching High School Wrestling Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Coaching my son’s high school wrestling team has been great fun, but it’s also demonstrated how a legal career can benefit from certain experiences, such as embracing the unknown, studying the rules and engaging with new people, says Richard Davis at Maynard Nexsen.

  • How Recent Laws Affect Foreign Purchase Of US Real Estate

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    Early diligence is imperative for U.S. real estate transactions involving foreign actors, including analysis of federal and state foreign investment laws implicated by the transaction, depending on the property's nature and location, the parties' citizenship, and the transaction's structure, say Massimo D’Angelo and Anthony Rapa at Blank Rome.

  • SG's Office Is Case Study To Help Close Legal Gender Gap

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    As women continue to be underrepresented in the upper echelons of the legal profession, law firms could learn from the example set by the Office of the Solicitor General, where culture and workplace policies have helped foster greater gender equality, say attorneys at Ocean Tomo.

  • The Corporate Disclosure Tug-Of-War's Free Speech Issues

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    The continuing conflict over corporate disclosure requirements — highlighted by a lawsuit against Missouri's anti-ESG rules — has important implications not just for investors and regulated entities but also for broader questions about the scope of the First Amendment, say Colin Pohlman, and Jane Luxton and Paul Kisslinger at Lewis Brisbois.

  • A Refresher On Alcohol Sponsorships Before The Super Bowl

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    As millions of people will see in Super Bowl commercials Sunday, celebrity sponsorships continue to be a valuable tool for alcohol beverage marketers — and those looking to better target audiences must understand how regulation of the alcohol industry affects these deals, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Opinion

    Food Safety Bill Needed To Protect Kids From Heavy Metals

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    The recent announcement by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that hundreds of children may have been exposed to unsafe lead levels in applesauce highlights the continuing failure by Congress to pass legislation that would require baby food manufacturers to ensure safer levels of heavy metals in their products, says Vineet Dubey at Custodio & Dubey.

  • What Brands Must Know For Calif. Recycle Label Compliance

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    A brand that stamps nonrecyclable packaging with the chasing arrows symbol could face liability under California's new law on labeling recyclable material, so brand owners should keep an eye on the state's pending survey process to identify which materials meet the criteria before requirements go into effect, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • Reimagining Law Firm Culture To Break The Cycle Of Burnout

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    While attorney burnout remains a perennial issue in the legal profession, shifting post-pandemic expectations mean that law firms must adapt their office cultures to retain talent, say Kevin Henderson and Eric Pacifici at SMB Law Group.

  • Zimbabwe Ruling Bolsters UK's Draw As Arbitration Enforcer

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    An English court's recent decision in Border Timbers v. Zimbabwe, finding that state immunity was irrelevant to registering an arbitration award, emphasizes the U.K.'s reputation as a creditor-friendly destination for award enforcement, say Jon Felce and Tulsi Bhatia at Cooke Young.

  • Series

    ESG Around The World: Brazil

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    Environmental, social and governance issues have increasingly translated into new legislation in Brazil since 2020, and in the wake of these recently enacted regulations, we are likely to see a growing number of legal disputes in the largest South American country related to ESG issues such as greenwashing if companies are not prepared to adequately adapt and comply, say attorneys at Mattos Filho.

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