Food & Beverage

  • January 21, 2025

    Mondelez Fights Candy-Flavored Energy Drink Label Claims

    Snack giant Mondelez and the company behind Ghost energy drinks argued Tuesday that they should not have to face a proposed class action claiming they illegally market candy-flavored Ghost drinks toward kids because the label wouldn't dupe reasonable consumers.

  • January 21, 2025

    Bacon Giant Smithfields Leads 3 IPOs Primed To Exceed $1B

    Bacon maker Smithfields Foods Inc. led a trio of companies unveiling price ranges for initial public offerings Tuesday that could raise $1.3 billion combined over the next week, with 10 law firms guiding the IPOs in various capacities.

  • January 21, 2025

    Stoel Rives Adds Tech, IP Partner From Stubbs Alderton

    Stoel Rives LLP has brought on the former chair of Stubbs Alderton & Markiles LLP's trademark and brand protection practice and its privacy and data security practice as a partner in Sacramento, California.

  • January 21, 2025

    Amazon Says New Ruling Can't Save Price-Gouging Suit

    Amazon is looking to end an updated proposed class action alleging price-gouging during the COVID-19 pandemic, arguing the Washington Supreme Court's recent interpretation of a consumer protection law is not a green light for every plaintiff who bought any product on the platform in 2020, including non-essential goods.

  • January 21, 2025

    Fee Sanctions Upheld For 'Frivolous' Defamation Suit

    A Michigan appellate panel says a trial court did not err by sanctioning a Detroit-based cooking influencer for filing a "frivolous" defamation complaint over social media comments, with the panel agreeing the influencer's claims were "devoid of arguable legal merit."

  • January 21, 2025

    4 Of 8 From Alleged Bronx Beer Heist Squad In Plea Talks

    The leader of an eight-man crew accused of carrying out a brazen scheme to steal Mexican beer from trains and resell it in the Bronx is in plea talks along with three co-defendants, a New York federal judge heard Tuesday.

  • January 21, 2025

    TTAB Shuts Down USA Ham's Bid To Register Meat Mark

    The Venezuelan owner of meat company La Montserratina won its challenge to a U.S.-based company's bid to register the mark for its own products after the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board found the "applicant's copying capitalizes on" the South American company's reputation.

  • January 21, 2025

    Pactiv Evergreen's $6.7B Sale To Novolex Goes Unchallenged

    Food merchandising product maker Pactiv Evergreen on Tuesday revealed that the waiting period for its $6.7 billion merger with packaging products manufacturer Novolex has expired, clearing the path for the deal to close.

  • January 21, 2025

    Harassment By Workers Upends Retaliation Suit, Farm Says

    A pork farm urged a Tennessee federal court to throw out a lawsuit from the U.S. Department of Labor accusing it of retaliating against two workers who complained to the agency about unpaid wages, saying the workers were disciplined because they harassed their colleagues.

  • January 17, 2025

    Law360 Names Practice Groups Of The Year

    Law360 would like to congratulate the winners of its Practice Groups of the Year awards for 2024, which honor the attorney teams behind litigation wins and significant transaction work that resonated throughout the legal industry this past year.

  • January 17, 2025

    Law360 Names Firms Of The Year

    Eight law firms have earned spots as Law360's Firms of the Year, with 54 Practice Group of the Year awards among them, steering some of the largest deals of 2024 and securing high-profile litigation wins, including at the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • January 20, 2025

    Trump, Musk Sued By Nonprofits Over DOGE Transparency

    Public Citizen and other nonprofits hit the Trump administration with multiple lawsuits seeking to shut down the new Department of Government Efficiency in D.C. federal court Monday, alleging the Elon Musk-led advisory committee targeting government waste lacks requisite transparency guardrails to prevent DOGE from solely advancing private interests.

  • January 17, 2025

    No Conflict In Judge's Friendship, John Deere, Farmers Say

    John Deere and the farmers suing it in a right-to-repair suit said they have no concerns about the potential conflict of interest an Illinois federal judge flagged, saying there was "no reason" for the jurist to recuse himself, according to a joint letter filed by the parties.

  • January 17, 2025

    Instacart, Uber Team Up Against Driver Job Security Law

    Instacart has joined Uber's fight against Seattle's new app-based worker account deactivation rules, with both companies urging the judge who refused to temporarily block the law to grant a stay while the companies appeal to the Ninth Circuit.

  • January 17, 2025

    Ex Raided Conn. Burrito Joint's TM, Co. Accounts, Suit Says

    The owner of Connecticut Tex-Mex restaurant and coffeehouse TJ's Longboard Burritos LLC told a Connecticut federal court that his ex-girlfriend launched a similar nearby eatery called TJ's Burritos Bloomfield LLC and is responsible for changes to his passwords, his cook's departure, bills to his accounts, disappearing tequila and tanking his sales by 40%.

  • January 17, 2025

    Walgreens Can't Hold Great-Grandson To Decade-Old TM Deal

    A federal judge in Illinois has found that Charles Walgreen didn't break the terms of a deal he made a decade ago to not compete with the retail and pharmacy giant that his great-grandfather founded, which is now suing him over his commercial use of his last name.

  • January 17, 2025

    SEC Says Food Tech Startup Overstated Revenue By $550M

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday fined venture-backed food technology startup GrubMarket $8 million for allegedly misleading investors by overstating revenue by more than $550 million, with faulty accounting that regulators say the company should have known was unreliable.

  • January 17, 2025

    Little Caesars Reaches Deal Over 'Pizza Puff' Injunction Stay

    Little Caesars has said it will immediately take down in-store and online references to its muffin-pizza appetizers as "pizza puffs" — ending a fight with the company that owns the trademark for the term over whether an Illinois federal judge should wait to enforce his injunction — but was given several weeks to phase out the phrase in drive-throughs. 

  • January 17, 2025

    Drink Maker Celsius Settles SEC's Accounting Claims For $3M

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday fined beverage company Celsius Holdings Inc. $3 million to settle claims that it issued financial statements that were materially inaccurate and misleading due to misreported stock award information.

  • January 17, 2025

    NYC Mall Lenders, Developer Want Foreign Investor Suit Nixed

    Financial backers of a Staten Island mall project are asking a federal judge to toss a suit by foreign investors seeking damages, arguing that the investors are just trying to "claw back" whatever they can from others who lost even more money.

  • January 17, 2025

    Prime Sports Drink Fight In Wrong Venue, Chancery Finds

    A beverage bottler's lawsuit seeking damages tied to sports-drink startup Prime Hydration's alleged failure to honor a production contract has come up empty in Delaware's Court of Chancery, with a Thursday ruling that the complaint never tapped into the court's equity jurisdiction.

  • January 17, 2025

    Hawaii Bill Seeks To Make Renter Tax Credit Permanent

    Hawaii would make its renters tax credit permanent and change the credit's amounts under a bill introduced in the state House of Representatives.

  • January 17, 2025

    UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

    This past week in London has seen the family of the late chairman of Leicester City FC sue a helicopter manufacturer for £2.15 billion ($2.63 billion), Vivienne Westwood bring a copyright claim against the late designer's foundation and blockchain giant Tether file a new claim in its ongoing dispute with crypto trading firm Swan Bitcoin. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • January 17, 2025

    FTC Accuses Pepsi Of Giving Advantage To Favored Retailer

    The Federal Trade Commission on Friday accused Pepsi of giving a big box retailer better terms and promotional payments, putting smaller competitors at a disadvantage.

  • January 16, 2025

    IP Forecast: Mass. Court To Hear Inequitable Conduct Fight

    A federal judge in Massachusetts will hear arguments that a CEO’s “intentional misrepresentations, omissions and half-truths” at the patent office should sink his company’s infringement case over tamper-resistant plastic containers. Here's a spotlight on where that case stands — plus all the other major intellectual property matters on deck in the coming week.

Expert Analysis

  • 5 Advertising Law Trends To Watch In 2025

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    Although advertisers are encouraged by the incoming Trump administration's focus on deregulation, this year could feel like wading through uncharted waters, and decreased federal government regulation may mean increased state regulation, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • 5 E-Discovery Predictions For 2025 And Beyond

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    In the year to come, e-discovery will be shaped by new and emerging trends, from the adoption of artificial intelligence provisions in protective orders, to the proliferation of emojis as a source of evidence in contemporary litigation, say attorneys at Littler.

  • NY Plastic Pollution Verdict May Not Bode Well For Other Suits

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    The dismissal of New York state's public nuisance complaint against PepsiCo over pollution of the Buffalo River with the company's single use plastic bottles may not augur well for similar lawsuits filed by Baltimore and Los Angeles County, although tort law varies from state to state, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.

  • 2024 Was A Banner Year For Shareholder Activism

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    Shareholder activism campaigns in 2024 continued at an elevated pace globally, with activist investors exploiting valuation gaps and pushing aggressively for corporate governance reforms, including the ouster of many companies' chief executives, a trend that could continue once President-elect Donald Trump takes office, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • 7 Ways 2nd Trump Administration May Affect Partner Hiring

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    President-elect Donald Trump's return to the White House will likely have a number of downstream effects on partner hiring in the legal industry, from accelerated hiring timelines to increased vetting of prospective employees, say recruiters at Macrae.

  • How Trump 2.0 May Change Business In Latin America

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    Companies in Latin America should expect to face more trade restrictions, tighter economic sanctions and enhanced corruption risks, as the incoming administration shifts focus to certain non-U.S. actors, most notably China, says Matteson Ellis at Miller & Chevalier.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Rulings On Custodian Selection

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    Several recent rulings make clear that the proportionality of additional proposed custodians will depend on whether the custodians have unique relevant documents, and producing parties should consider whether information already in the record will show that they have relevant documents that otherwise might not be produced, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Surprise NC COVID Ruling Revises Reasonable Expectations

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    The North Carolina Supreme Court's recent finding in favor of policyholders in a suit for business interruption coverage due to COVID-19 shutdown orders runs contrary to most other state and federal courts' holdings on the issue, and may revitalize the reasonable expectations doctrine in the state, say attorneys at Goldberg Segalla.

  • Complying With Seasonal Product Labeling Requirements

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    Though the holiday season is in the rearview, many seasonal alcohol products remain in the market, and producers should ensure that their labels comply with the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau's additional requirements for such products, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Series

    Exercising On My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    While I originally came to the Peloton bike for exercise, one cycling instructor’s teachings have come to serve as a road map for practicing law thoughtfully and mindfully, which has opened opportunities for growth and change in my career, says Andrea Kirshenbaum at Littler.

  • 5 Drug And Device Developments That Shaped 2024

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    The last year saw significant legal developments affecting drug and device manufacturers, with landmark decisions and regulatory changes that require vigilance and agility from the industry, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

  • How To Manage During A Trade Dispute With USMCA Partners

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    Companies can try to minimize the potential impacts of future tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods, and uncertainty about future trade relations, by evaluating supply chains, considering how they may be modified, and engaging with the new administration over exemptions and the upcoming review of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Exploring Venue Strategy For Trump-Era Regulatory Litigation

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    Litigation will likely play a prominent role in shaping policy outcomes during the second Trump administration, and stakeholders have several tools at their disposal to steer regulatory litigation toward more favorable venues, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Product Safety Issues In 2024 Highlight Need For Vigilance

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    A look at some of the medications and foods that led to significant class actions last year demonstrates the need for robust regulatory systems and proactive measures to protect consumers from defective and harmful products, says Jennifer Taylor at the Law Offices of James Scott Farrin.

  • Lessons Learned From 2024's Top ADA Decisions

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    Last year's major litigation related to the Americans with Disabilities Act highlights that when dealing with accommodation requests, employers must communicate clearly, appreciate context and remain flexible in addressing needs, say attorneys at Dechert.

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