Food & Beverage

  • August 09, 2024

    Wash. AG Says Kroger Refusing To Delay Merger For Ruling

    The Washington Attorney General's Office told a state court that Kroger will not agree to put off closing its planned merger with Albertsons until after a final ruling in the state's merger challenge, but the companies say they've already agreed not to finalize the deal until litigation plays out in another state.

  • August 09, 2024

    Mich. Pot Co. Alleges IP Atty, Wife Are Ruining Its Reputation

    Efforts by a Montana intellectual property attorney and his wife to hit back after losing money in an alleged investment scam have missed the mark by targeting a Michigan cannabis company that was also ripped off, the company claimed Wednesday.

  • August 08, 2024

    Calif. Justices Side With Hartford Unit In Virus Coverage Fight

    The California Supreme Court on Thursday reversed an appellate court's finding that a virus endorsement rendered a restaurant's policy illusory in a coverage dispute with a Hartford entity over pandemic-related losses, instead ruling that the endorsement clearly provides coverage "only if the virus results from certain specified causes of loss."

  • August 08, 2024

    Instacart Shopper's Costco Injury Suit Sent To Arbitration

    A Maryland federal judge has sent to arbitration a suit seeking to hold Costco liable for an Instacart shopper's slip-and-fall injuries, saying the warehouse club chain is a third-party retailer that falls under the arbitration clause in the grocery delivery company's independent contractor agreement.

  • August 08, 2024

    Dairy Farm Investor Fights For €77.5M Claim Against Serbia

    A dairy farm investor is arguing that an arbitral award wrongly ordered Serbia to pay him €14.5 million ($15.8 million) instead of the €77.5 million he sought after his shares in the company were expropriated, saying the tribunal failed to provide any reasoning for its damages calculation.

  • August 08, 2024

    Amazon Must Face Pandemic Price-Gouging Claims In Wash.

    Washington's high court said on Thursday that Amazon can be sued under the state's Consumer Protection Act over alleged price-gouging early in the COVID-19 pandemic, but stopped short of agreeing with customers that the law bars specific markup percentages. 

  • August 08, 2024

    Green Groups Seek Ban On Imports From Unsafe Fisheries

    Environmental groups urged the U.S. Court of International Trade to order NOAA Fisheries to ban imports from fisheries that use equipment dangerous to marine life, saying Thursday that the imports continue to enter the domestic market despite lawmakers mandating a prohibition years ago.

  • August 08, 2024

    50 Cent Beats Liquor Consultant's 'Ridiculous' Wiretap Claim

    A frustrated New York state judge on Thursday tossed a former Beam Suntory Inc. sales contractor's reworked wiretapping allegations against rapper Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson in a $3 million embezzlement dispute, calling the claims "ridiculous" and an "obvious" delay tactic.

  • August 07, 2024

    5th Circ. Pushes DOL On Salary Thresholds For OT Eligibility

    A Fifth Circuit panel told the government during oral arguments Wednesday that the Labor Department needed to provide more substantial reasoning as to how it determines workers' overtime eligibility, saying that just because it has set salary thresholds for nearly a century doesn't mean it gets carte blanche.

  • August 07, 2024

    10th Circ. Won't Undo Atty Fees In $1.5B Syngenta Corn Deal

    The Tenth Circuit on Wednesday backed a Kansas federal judge's allocations of attorney fees to three law firms representing individual claimants in multidistrict litigation over Syngenta's genetically modified corn that was resolved by a $1.5 billion class settlement, finding that the firms' arguments strayed from the issue at hand.

  • August 07, 2024

    Hemp Cos. Owner Says Cousin Ripped Off Formula, Trademarks

    The owner of Florida-based CBD and hemp companies White Lab LLC and GS Distribution LLC is suing a company owned by his cousin, saying the cousin has failed to pay up on a distribution agreement and is now trying to steal the trademarks to one of White Lab's product lines. 

  • August 07, 2024

    Bank Dropped From Suit Over Alleged $100M Ponzi Scheme

    Washington-based First Fed Bank and its brass have been dropped from a lawsuit claiming they aided a $100 million Ponzi scheme to defraud would-be investors in a water-vending machine company.

  • August 07, 2024

    Servers Seek Default In Foxwoods Restaurant Wage Case

    A class of servers who claim their tips were shorted by Sugar Factory, a restaurant at the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation's Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut, are seeking a default entry against a company behind the eatery.

  • August 07, 2024

    'The Eggs Are Fresh From A Farm': Kroger Fries False Ad Suit

    Kroger defeated a proposed class action accusing it of misleading customers into thinking its "farm fresh eggs" came from free-roaming hens on grassy fields, despite coming from caged hens, after an Illinois federal judge said Wednesday the term "means precisely what it says: the eggs are fresh from a farm."

  • August 07, 2024

    Chick-Fil-A Franchisee Settles Fired Trans Worker's Bias Suit

    A Chick-fil-A franchisee and a transgender former employee have settled her sexual harassment suit alleging she was told she should be grateful that a colleague was hitting on her and eventually fired after complaining about the harassment she faced.

  • August 07, 2024

    4th Circ. Revives Sex Bias Suit Over Workplace Romance Row

    The Fourth Circuit reopened a former salesperson's lawsuit alleging a wine and spirits distributor fired her because she rejected the owner's sexual advances after they broke up, saying a trial is needed to delineate when the relationship ended.

  • August 07, 2024

    Tyson Foods Escapes 401(k) Recordkeeping Fee Suit

    An Arkansas federal judge agreed to toss a proposed class action federal benefits lawsuit from participants in a 401(k) plan for employees of Tyson Foods Inc., concluding allegations of high recordkeeping fees weren't backed up with sufficient comparisons to better-managed plans as required in the Eighth Circuit.

  • August 07, 2024

    GrubHub Must Face Restaurants' TM Infringement Suit

    Grubhub Inc. must face a proposed class action brought against it in Illinois federal court for allegedly using restaurants' trademarks without permission and listing them on its food delivery app without their consent, even though most of the lead plaintiffs have not registered the marks at issue.

  • August 06, 2024

    Japanese Restaurant In Aspen Sued For TM Infringement

    A Florida restaurateur's intellectual property company has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit in Colorado federal court against a Japanese restaurant and its interim manager in Aspen, claiming they continued without permission to use the name and logo the IP company created.

  • August 06, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Told Edwards Filed Safe Harbor Suit With Bad Intent

    The Federal Circuit rightfully held Meril Life Sciences was protected by a patent safe harbor when bringing its preapproval transcatheter heart valve system to an industry conference and that Edwards Lifesciences' attempts to prove otherwise are just delay tactics, Meril told the full court.

  • August 06, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Pours Out Trademark Board's 'Cognac' Ruling

    A cognac distilling industry trade group persuaded the Federal Circuit on Tuesday to scrap an administrative board holding that let a small record label register a trademark using the word "cognac," setting new law on how to determine the fame of "certification marks."

  • August 06, 2024

    Houston Partially Escapes Pappas Restaurants' Airport Suit

    A state appeals court agreed Tuesday with Houston's argument that a concessions contract with the William P. Hobby Airport did not require the city to follow the Texas Government Code's competitive bidding requirements, partially tossing a suit brought by Pappas Restaurants over its loss of the 2023 agreement.

  • August 06, 2024

    Denver Food Co. Fired VP For Younger Male, Suit Claims

    A former vice president of a Denver-area food biotech firm has filed a suit claiming the company violated Colorado's gender and age anti-discrimination laws when it fired and ultimately replaced her after she finished training a younger male successor, who was intended to only take over some of her duties.

  • August 06, 2024

    EPA Emergency Bans Pesticide Chem Over Risks To Unborn

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday it's imposing an emergency ban on all pesticide products that contain a chemical used since the 1950s that it says puts fetuses at risk of thyroid problems and a cascade of other health issues.

  • August 06, 2024

    Music Licensor Settles Disco Song Row With Detroit Eatery

    Music licensor Broadcast Music Inc. and two other major recording companies have settled a copyright infringement lawsuit against a Detroit restaurant, resolving claims of unauthorized performances of three popular disco songs.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Teaching Yoga Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Being a yoga instructor has helped me develop my confidence and authenticity, as well as stress management and people skills — all of which have crossed over into my career as an attorney, says Laura Gongaware at Clyde & Co.

  • TTAB Ruling Raises Foreign-Language Mark Questions

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    The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board's recent decision to cancel the Veuve Olivier registration due to its similarity to Veuve Clicquot brings new focus to the treatment of foreign terms and the doctrine of foreign equivalents, say attorneys at Finnegan.

  • Best Practices To Accommodate Workplace Service Animals

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Since the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently pledged to enforce accommodations for people with intellectual, developmental and mental health-related disabilities, companies should use an interactive process to properly respond when employees ask about bringing service animals into the workplace, say Samuel Lillard and Jantzen Mace at Ogletree.

  • A Vision For Economic Clerkships In The Legal System

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    As courts handle increasingly complex damages analyses involving vast amounts of data, an economic clerkship program — integrating early-career economists into the judicial system — could improve legal outcomes and provide essential training to clerks, say Mona Birjandi at Data for Decisions and Matt Farber at Secretariat.

  • Opinion

    State-Regulated Cannabis Can Thrive Without Section 280E

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    Marijauna's reclassification as a Schedule III-controlled substance comes at a critical juncture, as removing marijuana from being subjected to Section 280E of the Internal Revenue Code is the only path forward for the state-regulated cannabis industry to survive and thrive, say Andrew Kline at Perkins Coie and Sammy Markland at FTI Consulting.

  • 4 Sectors Will Likely Bear Initial Brunt Of FTC 'Junk Fees' Rule

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    If the Federal Trade Commission adopts its comprehensive proposed rule to ban unfair or deceptive fees across the U.S. economy, many businesses — including those in the lodging, event ticketing, dining and transportation sectors — will need to reexamine the way they market and price their products and services, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Text Message Data

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    Electronically stored information on cellphones, and in particular text messages, can present unique litigation challenges, and recent court decisions demonstrate that counsel must carefully balance what data should be preserved, collected, reviewed and produced, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • What CRA Deadline Means For Biden Admin. Rulemaking

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    With the 2024 election rapidly approaching, the Biden administration must race to finalize proposed agency actions within the next few weeks, or be exposed to the chance that the following Congress will overturn the rules under the Congressional Review Act, say attorneys at Covington.

  • 5 Climate Change Regulatory Issues Insurers Should Follow

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    The climate change landscape for insurers has changed dramatically recently — and not just because of the controversy over the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate-related risk disclosure rules, says Thomas Dawson at McDermott.

  • 8 Questions To Ask Before Final CISA Breach Reporting Rule

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    The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s recently proposed cyber incident reporting requirements for critical infrastructure entities represent the overall approach CISA will take in its final rule, so companies should be asking key compliance questions now and preparing for a more complicated reporting regime, say Arianna Evers and Shannon Mercer at WilmerHale.

  • Justices Clarify FAA But Leave Behind Important Questions

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision last month in Bissonnette v. LePage firmly shuts the door on any argument that the Federal Arbitration Act's Section 1 exemption is limited to transportation workers whose employers transport goods on behalf of others, but two major issues remain unresolved, say Joshua Wesneski and Crystal Weeks at Weil.

  • PE In The Crosshairs Of Public And Private Antitrust Enforcers

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    A series of decisions from a California federal court in the recently settled Packaged Seafood Products Antitrust Litigation, as well as heightened scrutiny from federal agencies, serve as a reminder that private equity firms may be exposed to liability for alleged anti-competitive conduct by their portfolio companies, say attorneys at Axinn.

  • Series

    Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.

  • A Recipe For Growth Equity Investing In A Slow M&A Market

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    Carl Marcellino at Ropes & Gray discusses the factors bolstering appetite for growth equity fundraising in a depressed M&A market, and walks through the deal terms and other ingredients that set growth equity transactions apart from bread-and-butter venture capital investing.

  • What 100 Federal Cases Suggest About Changes To Chevron

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    With the U.S. Supreme Court poised to overturn or narrow its 40-year-old doctrine of Chevron deference, a review of 100 recent federal district court decisions confirm that changes to the Chevron framework will have broad ramifications — but the magnitude of the impact will depend on the details of the high court's ruling, say Kali Schellenberg and Jon Cochran at LeVan Stapleton.

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