Try our Advanced Search for more refined results
Food & Beverage
-
August 30, 2024
Employment Authority: Teamsters Targets Key Amazon Hub
Law360 Employment Authority covers the biggest employment cases and trends. Catch up this week with coverage on an ambitious union drive at an Amazon air facility in Kentucky that could change labor's lack of success with the online retail behemoth, how a post-Chevron landscape led to the death of a U.S. Department of Labor tip rule, and mistakes that employers should avoid when placing workers on performance improvement plans.
-
August 30, 2024
Harris Admin Would Stay Course On Tough Antitrust Policy
Just two days after food and candy giant Mars announced its blockbuster $35.9 billion Kellanova purchase, Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign indicated plans to “crack down” on mergers between large food companies. That would differ significantly from another Trump presidency, which could see a generally more relaxed antitrust environment. Here, Law360 explores anticipated policy differences between the two.
-
August 30, 2024
The Top In-House Hires Of August
Legal department hires over the last month included high-profile appointments at Target, Cigna and Estée Lauder. Here, Law360 Pulse looks at some of the top in-house announcements from the last full month of summer.
-
August 30, 2024
Mich. Supreme Court Shuts Down COVID Closure Suits
Michigan's top court turned away gyms and food-service businesses seeking payment for state-imposed closures and restrictions on their businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, rejecting the businesses' appeals Friday.
-
August 30, 2024
Inaccurate TransUnion Report Ended Job Chances, Suit Says
A TransUnion unit that sells background checks was hit with a federal lawsuit in Texas accusing it of wrecking an applicant's employment prospects at Chick-fil-A by incorrectly reporting he had misdemeanor convictions for cannabis possession.
-
August 29, 2024
DOL, Miss. Fishery Reach Deal To End Suit Over Wage Probe
The U.S. Department of Labor and a Mississippi fishery asked a federal judge on Thursday to sign off on a settlement in a suit accusing the fishery of interfering with a DOL wage investigation by threatening to physically harm workers and have them deported if they cooperated, referring to the claims in the deal as a "misunderstanding."
-
August 29, 2024
Starbucks Overpromised On 'Reinvention' Plan, Investor Says
Coffee chain Starbucks faces a proposed investor class action alleging it misled the markets about prospects for its so-called Triple Shot Reinvention strategy, hurting investors after trading prices for its shares slid when it announced disappointing quarterly results in April 2024.
-
August 29, 2024
Amazon Sheds Whole Foods 'Bait-And-Switch' Case For Good
A Washington federal court on Thursday dismissed a proposed class action accusing Amazon.com of misleading Prime members by advertising free Whole Foods grocery deliveries and later canceling the perk, in an order that said the lead plaintiff failed to fix deficiencies in the complaint that a judge previously flagged.
-
August 29, 2024
Mars Wrigley Must Face False Ad Suit Over 'Real Cheese'
Snack maker Mars Wrigley could not escape claims it falsely advertised its Cheddar Cheese Combos as being made with "real cheese," after a New York federal judge ruled that consumers' adequately showed they paid a premium for inferior "cheese substitute."
-
August 29, 2024
50 Cent's Liquor Biz Wins Ch. 7 Fight Over Ex-Boss's House
A onetime international liquor trader for rap artist 50 Cent's booze business has lost a bid to protect his Connecticut residence from Sire Spirits LLC's attempt to recover a $7 million New York fraud judgment, with a bankruptcy judge applying a lower state homestead exemption than the indebted trader requested.
-
August 29, 2024
Trucker Urges Justices To Back Wide RICO Scope In CBD Case
A commercial truck driver who alleges he lost his job after consuming products containing THC is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to affirm a Second Circuit ruling that the civil racketeering statute applies to personal injuries when they upset a person's employment.
-
August 29, 2024
Judge Trims Assault, Wage Claims Against Long Island Cafe
A New York federal judge tossed some claims brought by one of eight former employees suing Marie Eiffel Market, a Long Island cafe popular with celebrities, but left the majority of the claims brought by the employees untouched.
-
August 29, 2024
FTC Wants Kroger's Constitution Suit To Follow Merger Case
The Federal Trade Commission is sparring with Kroger over where, and when, to handle the grocery giant's constitutional counterattack to the FTC's merger challenge, with the agency teeing up a bid to move the company's Ohio federal court suit to Oregon, where it's defending the proposed Albertsons purchase.
-
August 29, 2024
Wendy's Settles Beef Over Mystery Shopper Data Patent
Wendy's International LLC and subsidiary Quality Is Our Recipe LLC have cut a deal to end data patent infringement claims brought against them in a sprawling intellectual property case that has already seen several settlements from other fast-food chains.
-
August 29, 2024
Bankruptcy Judge Allows Red Lobster To Reject 23 Leases
Troubled seafood chain Red Lobster gained a Florida bankruptcy judge's approval for its proposal to reject leases of an additional 23 restaurant locations slated to close at the end of the month.
-
August 29, 2024
Deals Rumor Mill: Ackman IPO, Covestro Takeover, Trinitech
Bill Ackman is reviving plans for an initial public offering of his new closed-end fund, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company is inching closer to launching a takeover of plastics company Covestro, and private equity owners are exploring a $2 billion sale of financial software firm Trintech. Here, Law360 breaks down these and other notable deal rumors from the past week.
-
August 28, 2024
Farmer Owes Monsanto $7.4M After Flouting Seed Judgment
An Illinois federal judge has revived a 7-year-old judgment she entered against a farmer who allegedly prevented a farm from collecting some of its patented Monsanto soybean seed crops planted on the farmer's land and sold them for himself without permission.
-
August 28, 2024
Mich. Pot Co. Says Court Can Hear Suit Against IP Atty
A Michigan cannabis company can maintain its lawsuit against an attorney and his wife who it claims badmouthed it on social media, a federal judge ruled, after the business showed the court has jurisdiction over the couple.
-
August 28, 2024
'Holy Cow!': MLB Legend's Co. Sues Eatery Over Catchphrase
A company that manages the intellectual property rights of the late Major League Baseball sportscaster Harry Caray filed a trademark infringement suit in Texas federal court Tuesday accusing a Dallas restaurateur of trying to piggyback off the goodwill associated with Caray's famed catchphrase "holy cow!"
-
August 28, 2024
'Smoking-Gun' Flaw Found In New Ark. Hemp Law, Say Cos.
In a legal fight over a recent Arkansas state law restricting hemp-derived intoxicants, the hemp companies who brought the challenge told a federal judge Wednesday they found "smoking-gun evidence" from regulators showing the 2023 law is unconstitutionally vague.
-
August 28, 2024
Fla. Bank City National Says Applebee's Franchisees Owe $8M
City National Bank of Florida sued a Louisiana-based Applebee's franchisee and three of its subsidiaries for $8.3 million, saying in a complaint filed Wednesday in Florida federal court that the companies defaulted on a federal COVID-19-era loan and then transferred control of their restaurants without consent.
-
August 28, 2024
Teamsters Can't Arbitrate Sysco Pension Spat, Judge Says
A Teamsters local can't take its challenges about a monthly early retirement benefit to arbitration, a Michigan federal judge determined Wednesday, finding that the grievance process under a collective bargaining agreement doesn't cover the dispute.
-
August 28, 2024
Insurer Blasts Ralph Lauren's Appeal For COVID-19 Coverage
Factory Mutual Insurance Co. urged the Third Circuit on Wednesday to reject Ralph Lauren Corp.'s bid to recoup up to $700 million in COVID-19 pandemic losses, blasting the fashion house's "conclusory allegations" that it was entitled to coverage.
-
August 28, 2024
Wash. AG Fears Kroger Will Move Goalposts For Merger Trial
The Washington Attorney General's Office told a state court Wednesday that Kroger refuses to commit to sticking with the current terms of its divestiture package in its merger with Albertsons, which the state fears would unfairly "move the goalposts" less than three weeks before a trial on the state's merger challenge kicks off.
-
August 28, 2024
Instacart Can Arbitrate Driver's Suit, But 2nd Circ. To Weigh In
A New York federal judge shipped to arbitration a driver's lawsuit alleging that Instacart misclassified him as an independent contractor but said the Second Circuit can weigh in on whether the Federal Arbitration Act's exemption applies that allows cases from transportation workers to stay in court.
Expert Analysis
-
Opinion
It's Time For A BigLaw Associates' Union
As BigLaw faces a steady stream of criticism about its employment policies and practices, an associates union could effect real change — and it could start with law students organizing around opposition to recent recruiting trends, says Tara Rhoades at The Sanity Plea.
-
How Calif. Justices' Prop 22 Ruling Affects The Gig Industry
The California Supreme Court's recent upholding of Proposition 22 clarifies that Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and other companies in the gig industry can legally classify their drivers as independent contractors, but it falls short of concluding some important regulatory battles in the state, says Mark Spring at CDF Labor.
-
How Justices Upended The Administrative Procedure Act
In its recent Loper Bright, Corner Post and Jarkesy decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court fundamentally changed the Administrative Procedure Act in ways that undermine Congress and the executive branch, shift power to the judiciary, curtail public and business input, and create great uncertainty, say Alene Taber and Beth Hummer at Hanson Bridgett.
-
Classwide Calculations May Get Price Premium Damages Wrong
In many consumer class actions, plaintiffs assert that they overpaid for a product because of a misrepresented or defective product feature, and that a single price premium estimate can be applied classwide — but failure to account for differences in price premiums across a putative class may lead to improper damage awards, say economists at Ankura Consulting.
-
Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Is My Counterclaim Bound To Fall?
A Pennsylvania federal court’s recent dismissal of the defendants’ counterclaims in Morgan v. Noss should remind attorneys to avoid the temptation to repackage a claim’s facts and law into a mirror-image counterclaim, as this approach will often result in a waste of time and resources, says Matthew Selmasska at Kaufman Dolowich.
-
Insurance Lessons From 11th Circ. Ruling On Policy Grammar
The Eleventh Circuit's recent decision in ECB v. Chubb Insurance, holding that missing punctuation didn't change the clear meaning of a professional services policy, offers policyholder takeaways about the uncertainty that can arise when courts interpret insurance policy language based on obscure grammatical canons, say Hugh Lumpkin and Garrett Nemeroff at Reed Smith.
-
Series
Playing Dungeons & Dragons Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Playing Dungeons & Dragons – a tabletop role-playing game – helped pave the way for my legal career by providing me with foundational skills such as persuasion and team building, says Derrick Carman at Robins Kaplan.
-
Mercon Coffee Ch. 11 Ruling Shows Insider Releases' Limits
A New York bankruptcy court’s recent ruling in Mercon Coffee’s Chapter 11 case highlights the stringent requirements for retention-related transfers to insiders, even in cases where no creditor has objected, say Robert Klyman and Scott Shelley at DLA Piper.
-
Illinois BIPA Reform Offers Welcome Relief To Businesses
Illinois' recent amendment to its Biometric Information Privacy Act limits the number of violations and damages a plaintiff can claim — a crucial step in shielding businesses from unintended legal consequences, including litigation risk and compliance costs, say attorneys at Taft.
-
Gilead Drug Ruling Creates Corporate Governance Dilemma
If upheld, a California state appellate court's decision — finding that Gilead is liable for delaying commercialization of a safer HIV drug to maximize profits on another drug — threatens to undermine long-standing rules of corporate law and exposes companies to liability for decisions based on sound business judgment, says Shireen Barday at Pallas.
-
Rebuttal
Cancer Research Org. Is Right To Avoid Corporate Influence
While a previous Law360 guest article criticizes the International Agency for Research on Cancer's processes, its reliance on peer-reviewed literature is proper and its refusal to allow corporate influence is sound science, say Lance Oliver and Ridge Mazingo at Motley Rice.
-
How Courts' Differing Views On Standing Affect PFAS Claims
Two recent opinions from New York federal courts — in Lurenz v. Coca-Cola, and Winans v. Ornua Foods North America — illustrate how pivotal the differing views on standing held by different courts will be for product liability litigation involving per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, particularly consumer claims, say attorneys at Hollingsworth.
-
E-Discovery Quarterly: Rulings On Hyperlinked Documents
Recent rulings show that counsel should engage in early discussions with clients regarding the potential of hyperlinked documents in electronically stored information, which will allow for more deliberate negotiation of any agreements regarding the scope of discovery, say attorneys at Sidley.
-
Loper Bright Limits Federal Agencies' Ability To Alter Course
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to dismantle Chevron deference also effectively overrules its 2005 decision in National Cable & Telecommunications Association v. Brand X, greatly diminishing agencies' ability to change regulatory course from one administration to the next, says Steven Gordon at Holland & Knight.
-
Defamation Suit Tests Lanham Act's Reach With Influencers
Recently filed in the Northern District of Texas, Prime Hydration v. Garcia, alleging defamation and Lanham Act violations based on the defendant's social media statements about the beverage brand, allows Texas courts and the Fifth Circuit to take the lead in interpreting the act as it applies to influencers, says attorney Susan Jorgensen.