Food & Beverage

  • 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.

  • June 03, 2024

    Chicago Restaurant Biz Can Fix Testimony Without Sanctions

    A Cook County judge on Monday refused to order the management group behind celebrated Chicago eatery Maple & Ash to produce thousands of documents that it claims are subject to attorney-client privilege as a sanction for misstating when an engagement letter was signed in sworn testimony, saying the issue was concerning but deeming the relief sought inappropriate.

  • June 03, 2024

    Restaurants Fight Bid-Rigging Release In $75M Chicken Deals

    Boston Market, Golden Corral and other restaurants have urged an Illinois federal judge to reject a class of chicken buyers' attempt to lock in $75 million in price-fixing settlements, continuing their fight to preserve a bid-rigging claim they argue should not be released.

  • June 03, 2024

    Food Co. Gets Win In 'Digital Checklist' Patent Fight

    A Connecticut federal judge has found that claims in a patent owned by the Georgia-based CM Systems LLC are invalid, handing a win to TransAct Technologies Inc. in a suit over restaurant food safety technology.

  • June 03, 2024

    Law Firm Faces Sanctions Bid For Happy Meal 'Extortion' Suit

    McDonald's has urged a Florida federal court to sanction Fischer Redavid PLLC and its clients for bringing a recently dismissed lawsuit seeking a warning on Happy Meal containers, accusing them of trying to extort the company for a bigger payout after securing an $800,000 jury verdict in a related case for the second-degree burns suffered by a girl from a dangerously hot Chicken McNugget.

  • June 03, 2024

    Mich. High Court Keeps $15 Min. Wage Proposal Off Ballot

    An initiative to raise the hourly minimum wage in Michigan to $15 by 2027 will stay off the 2024 ballot, the state Supreme Court ruled, turning down a group's bid to force the state canvassers board to certify the proposal.

  • June 03, 2024

    Justices Won't Review Migrant Harboring Convictions

    The U.S. Supreme Court won't review a Kentucky federal jury's verdict convicting two restaurateurs on four counts of harboring unauthorized immigrants, shutting down those business owners' arguments they were not intentionally hiding the migrants from the government.

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • Vagueness In Calif. Climate Law Makes Compliance Tricky

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    California's recently enacted Voluntary Carbon Market Disclosures Act requires companies making claims of carbon neutrality, or significant greenhouse gas emissions reductions, to disclose information supporting those claims — but vague and conflicting language in the statute poses multiple problems for businesses, say John Rousakis and Chris Bowman at O'Melveny.

  • Series

    Competing In Dressage Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My lifelong participation in the sport of dressage — often called ballet on horses — has proven that several skills developed through training and competition are transferable to legal work, especially the ability to harness focus, persistence and versatility when negotiating a deal, says Stephanie Coco at V&E.

  • Harmonizing Agricultural And Clean Energy Goals

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    Congress' extension of the Farm Bill offers a chance to more thoroughly consider innovation and investments that could transform the competition between farmers and solar developers into synergistic agrivoltaic systems, which use land for both agriculture and solar energy generation, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.

  • What's At Stake In High Court NLRB Injunction Case

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    William Baker at Wigdor examines the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to hear Starbucks v. McKinney — where it will consider a long-standing circuit split over the standard for evaluating National Labor Relations Board injunction bids — and explains why the justices’ eventual decision, either way, is unlikely to be a significant blow to labor.

  • The Legal Industry Needs A Cybersecurity Paradigm Shift

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    As law firms face ever-increasing risks of cyberattacks and ransomware incidents, the legal industry must implement robust cybersecurity measures and privacy-centric practices to preserve attorney-client privilege, safeguard client trust and uphold the profession’s integrity, says Ryan Paterson at Unplugged.

  • 5 Reasons Associates Shouldn't Take A Job Just For Money

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    As a number of BigLaw firms increase salary scales for early-career attorneys, law students and lateral associates considering new job offers should weigh several key factors that may matter more than financial compensation, say Albert Tawil at Lateral Hub and Ruvin Levavi at Power Forward.

  • Series

    Playing Competitive Tennis Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My experience playing competitive tennis has highlighted why prioritizing exercise and stress relief, maintaining perspective under pressure, and supporting colleagues in pursuit of a common goal are all key aspects of championing a successful legal career, says Madhumita Datta at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • Series

    The Pop Culture Docket: Judge Djerassi On Super Bowl 52

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    Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Ramy Djerassi discusses how Super Bowl 52, in which the Philadelphia Eagles prevailed over the New England Patriots, provides an apt metaphor for alternative dispute resolution processes in commercial business cases.

  • Workplace Speech Policies Limit Legal And PR Risks

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    As workers increasingly speak out on controversies like the 2024 elections and the Israel-Hamas war, companies should implement practical workplace expression policies and plans to protect their brands and mitigate the risk of violating federal and state anti-discrimination and free speech laws, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Employee Experience Strategy Can Boost Law Firm Success

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    Amid continuing business uncertainty, law firms should consider adopting a holistic employee experience strategy — prioritizing consistency, targeting signature moments and leveraging measurement tools — to maximize productivity and profitability, says Haley Revel at Calibrate Consulting.

  • How Consumer Product Cos. Can Keep Up With Class Actions

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    Recent cases show California's federal courts and the Ninth Circuit remain the preferred arena for consumers pursuing false advertising and trade deception claims against companies — so manufacturers, distributors and retailers of consumer products should continue to watch these courts for guidance on how to fight class actions, say attorneys at Dechert.

  • Series

    Competing In Triathlons Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    While practicing law and competing in long-distance triathlons can make work and life feel unbalanced at times, participating in the sport has revealed important lessons about versatility, self-care and perseverance that apply to the office as much as they do the racecourse, says Laura Heusel at Butler Snow.

  • Where Justices Stand On Chevron Doctrine Post-Argument

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    Following recent oral argument at the U.S. Supreme Court, at least four justices appear to be in favor of overturning the long-standing Chevron deference, and three justices seem ready to uphold it, which means the ultimate decision may rest on Chief Justice John Roberts' vote, say Wayne D'Angelo and Zachary Lee at Kelley Drye.

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