Food & Beverage

  • October 08, 2024

    11th Circ. Revives Slip-And-Fall Suit Against Sam's Club

    The Eleventh Circuit has reinstated a woman's suit against retailer Sam's Club alleging she slipped and fell on water in one of its stores, saying there's evidence creating a dispute about whether the store had constructive notice of the spill.

  • October 08, 2024

    3rd Circ. Won't Rehear Pa., NJ Businesses' Virus Loss Suits

    The Third Circuit declined to rehear consolidated pandemic-related loss coverage disputes brought by New Jersey and Pennsylvania businesses, according to an order issued Tuesday, upholding its decision that the businesses' insurers didn't owe coverage for the claimed losses.

  • October 08, 2024

    Whole Earth Sued In Chancery For Docs On Take-Private Deal

    A stockholder of global food company Whole Earth Brands sued the company in Delaware's Court of Chancery late Monday for alleged failure to provide requested books and records on the company's agreement in February to be taken private by an affiliate of Sababa Holdings Free LLC.

  • October 08, 2024

    1st Circ. Eyes Revival Of Welch's Execs' Pension Fight

    The First Circuit appeared receptive Tuesday to former Welch's executives who are seeking to revive a suit claiming they were shortchanged by a supplemental retirement plan, with two judges pointing out conflict-of-interest disputes on appeal that the lower court left unaddressed.

  • October 07, 2024

    PetSmart Can't Shear Down Dog Food Trademark Suit

    A Kentucky federal judge declined PetSmart's bid to narrow a dog food company's intellectual property lawsuit against the pet products retailer, holding that the case qualifies for an exception that allows courts to intervene in pending matters before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

  • October 07, 2024

    Judge Presses AmEx On Arbitration Push For Merchants

    A Rhode Island judge on Monday expressed skepticism about American Express' claim that it could force a proposed antitrust class action targeting the company's swipe fee rules back into arbitration after the plaintiffs say it already defaulted on arbitration fees.

  • October 07, 2024

    Attys Want $20M Fees For Netting $64M Tuna Price-Fixing Deal

    Attorneys representing a class of purchasers who sued several canned tuna producers have asked a California federal judge for nearly $20 million in fees and costs associated with their recently inked $64 million settlement, saying the award is fair considering the effort the case took to prosecute and the complexity of the deal.

  • October 07, 2024

    McDonald's Accuses Big Beef Of Price-Fixing

    McDonald's Corp. sued Cargill, JBS, National Beef Packing Co., Swift Beef Co., Tyson and several subsidiaries in New York federal court Friday, accusing the major meat processing and packing companies of conspiring to fix beef prices, resulting in higher costs for the fast food behemoth.

  • October 07, 2024

    Mich. Supreme Court Snapshot: Insulin Prices, Disney Audit

    The Michigan Supreme Court's first oral argument session of the 2024-25 term promises to be a busy one, involving an investigation into Eli Lilly's insulin prices with big implications for the scope of Michigan's consumer protection law and Disney's appeal of an order to turn over decades-old uncashed checks to the state treasurer.

  • October 07, 2024

    Decision In Jurisdictional Case 'Outlier,' High Court Told

    An attorney representing Royal Canin USA Inc. and Nestlé Purina PetCare Co. on Monday told the U.S. Supreme Court that a jurisdictional decision in a case over prescription dog food is both an "extreme outlier" and goes against more than a hundred years of precedent.

  • October 07, 2024

    Panera Settles 'Charged Lemonade' Death Case Days Before Trial

    Panera Bread has reached a confidential settlement in a wrongful death suit lodged by the parents of a University of Pennsylvania student who died after drinking the bakery café chain's now-discontinued Charged Lemonade, counsel for the parents told Law360 on Monday.

  • October 07, 2024

    Grocery Co. Won't Get High Court Review Of Gender Bias Suit

    The U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday it won't review the revival of a gender bias case brought by a woman who said she was fired from her management role in a grocery store chain after her supervisor repeatedly said that management jobs were "too stressful" for women to handle.

  • October 07, 2024

    Target's '100% Pure' Avocado Oil Not So Pure, Suit Says

    Target customers hit the retailer with a putative class action in California federal court alleging its line of Good & Gather avocado oil is not 100% pure as the label suggests, and instead may contain additives like other lesser quality oils.

  • October 07, 2024

    Ball Corp. Unit Strikes Deal To End DOL Race Bias Probe

    A subsidiary of packaging company Ball Corp. will pay $309,000 after a U.S. Department of Labor probe found evidence that it favored white applicants for production technician jobs over Black workers, the DOL said Monday.

  • October 07, 2024

    Kirkland, Ropes Build $2B Take-Private Of Calif. Wine Maker

    Los Angeles-based private equity shop Butterfly Equity, led by Kirkland & Ellis LLP, on Monday announced plans to buy and take private Ropes & Gray LLP-advised North American luxury wine maker The Duckhorn Portfolio in an all-cash deal that values the company at roughly $1.95 billion.

  • October 07, 2024

    Justices Reject 5-Hour Energy's Attack On Unfair Pricing Test

    The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the maker of 5-Hour Energy's petition to review a Ninth Circuit test for deciding whether companies are in competition with one another in price discrimination cases Monday, allowing the circuit court's revival of a suit brought by wholesalers to stand.

  • October 07, 2024

    High Court Rejects Pleas To Hear 7 Patent Cases

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday turned down seven petitions seeking review of decisions in patent cases, including appeals dealing with double patenting, patent eligibility and Patent Trial and Appeal Board procedures.

  • October 04, 2024

    Top 5 Supreme Court Cases To Watch This Fall

    The U.S. Supreme Court will hear several cases in its October 2024 term that could further refine the new administrative law landscape, establish constitutional rights to gender-affirming care for transgender minors and affect how the federal government regulates water, air and weapons. Here, Law360 looks at five of the most important cases on the Supreme Court's docket so far.

  • October 04, 2024

    Mondelez, BCLP Ink $750K Deal To End Data Breach Suits

    Mondelez Global LLC workers on Friday asked an Illinois federal judge to greenlight a $750,000 settlement that would resolve proposed data privacy class actions against their employer and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP stemming from a 2023 data breach.

  • October 04, 2024

    What's Up In Oral Arguments In High Court Pet Food Case

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday will hear arguments in a case involving allegations that Royal Canin USA Inc. and Nestlé Purina PetCare Co. falsely represented their products as prescriptions belongs in state or federal court. Here, Law360 takes a look at what's at stake in this case.

  • October 04, 2024

    Hemp Org, Cheech & Chong Seek Halt Of Calif. Hemp Ban

    A leading hemp industry trade organization, along with the cannabis brand fronted by stoner comedians Cheech & Chong, have asked a Los Angeles state judge to halt enforcement of new California emergency regulations banning the sale of hemp products with THC.

  • October 04, 2024

    Iowa Farmer Wants Court To Nix Federal 'Swampbuster' Law

    A farmer pushed an Iowa federal court to overturn the "Swampbuster" part of a federal conservation program that aims to protect wetlands for public use, arguing that the law is unconstitutional.

  • October 04, 2024

    Kraft Heinz Sued In Ga. For Stealing Distributor Database

    The Kraft Heinz Co. has been slapped with a complaint in Georgia federal court accusing it of downloading hoards of information from an Atlanta-based company's database of international distributors and passing it off as its own to generate as much as $25 million in revenue, in breach of the company's licensing agreement.

  • October 04, 2024

    EPA Finalizes Stronger Pesticide Rules For Farmworker Safety

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rule strengthening protections for agricultural workers who could be exposed to pesticides, standards that had been weakened by the Trump administration.

  • October 04, 2024

    Albertsons Inks $3.9M Overcharge Deal With Calif. DAs

    Albertsons and its affiliate companies have agreed to pay $3.9 million to settle a civil enforcement action accusing them of bilking shoppers by charging higher prices for grocery items than what was advertised, according to an announcement made by several California district attorneys. 

Expert Analysis

  • What High Court TM Rulings Tell Us About Free Speech

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    Recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings show tension between free speech and trademark law, highlighting that while political mockery is protected, established brands may be forced to adapt to evolving cultural values, says William Scott Goldman at Goldman Law Group.

  • Series

    Being A Luthier Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    When I’m not working as an appellate lawyer, I spend my spare time building guitars — a craft known as luthiery — which has helped to enhance the discipline, patience and resilience needed to write better briefs, says Rob Carty at Nichols Brar.

  • Defending Against Aggressive DOL Child Labor Enforcement

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    The U.S. Department of Labor's recent unsuccessful injunction against an Alabama poultry facility highlights both the DOL's continued focus on child labor violations and the guardrails and defenses that employers can raise, say attorneys at Littler.

  • Lead Like 'Ted Lasso' By Embracing Cognitive Diversity

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    The Apple TV+ series “Ted Lasso” aptly illustrates how embracing cognitive diversity can be a winning strategy for teams, providing a useful lesson for law firms, which can benefit significantly from fresh, diverse perspectives and collaborative problem-solving, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.

  • How Cos. Should Handle Research Org.'s Carcinogen Evals

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    In light of the International Agency of Research for Cancer's list of substances slated for review over the next five years, manufacturers of chemicals, pharmaceuticals and consumer products should monitor for potentially unbalanced determinations, which could stimulate litigation regarding potential exposure from products, say attorneys at Nelson Mullins.

  • Justices' Starbucks Ruling May Limit NLRB Injunction Wins

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Starbucks v. McKinney, adopting a more stringent test for National Labor Relations Board Section 10(j) injunctions, may lessen the frequency with which employers must defend against injunctions alongside parallel unfair labor practice charges, say David Pryzbylski and Colleen Schade at Barnes & Thornburg.

  • Opinion

    Now More Than Ever, Lawyers Must Exhibit Professionalism

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    As society becomes increasingly fractured and workplace incivility is on the rise, attorneys must champion professionalism and lead by example, demonstrating how lawyers can respectfully disagree without being disagreeable, says Edward Casmere at Norton Rose.

  • A Look At State AGs Supermarket Antitrust Enforcement Push

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    The ongoing antitrust intervention by state attorneys general in the proposed Kroger and Albertsons merger suggests that states are straying from a Federal Trade Commission follow-on strategy in the supermarket space, which involved joining federal investigations or lawsuits and settling for the same divestment remedies, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • Series

    Serving In The National Guard Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My ongoing military experience as a judge advocate general in the National Guard has shaped me as a person and a lawyer, teaching me the importance of embracing confidence, balance and teamwork in both my Army and civilian roles, says Danielle Aymond at Baker Donelson.

  • A Midyear Forecast: Tailwinds Expected For Atty Hourly Rates

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    Hourly rates for partners, associates and support staff continued to rise in the first half of this year, and this growth shows no signs of slowing for the rest of 2024 and into next year, driven in part by the return of mergers and acquisitions and the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence, says Chuck Chandler at Valeo Partners.

  • Series

    After Chevron: USDA Rules May Be Up In The Air

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    The Supreme Court's end of Chevron deference may cause more lawsuits against U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations, like the one redefining "unfair trade practices" under the Packers and Stockyards Act, or a new policy classifying salmonella as an adulterant in certain poultry products, says Bob Hibbert at Wiley.

  • Opinion

    States Should Loosen Law Firm Ownership Restrictions

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    Despite growing buzz, normalized nonlawyer ownership of law firms is a distant prospect, so the legal community should focus first on liberalizing state restrictions on attorney and firm purchases of practices, which would bolster succession planning and improve access to justice, says Michael Di Gennaro at The Law Practice Exchange.

  • Series

    Solving Puzzles Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Tackling daily puzzles — like Wordle, KenKen and Connections — has bolstered my intellectual property litigation practice by helping me to exercise different mental skills, acknowledge minor but important details, and build and reinforce good habits, says Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer.

  • Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice

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    The Texas Professional Ethics Committee's recently issued proposed opinion finding that in-house counsel providing legal services to the company's clients constitutes the unauthorized practice of law is a valuable clarification given that a UPL violation — a misdemeanor in most states — carries high stakes, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.

  • Navigating The New Rise Of Greenwashing Litigation

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    As greenwashing lawsuits continue to gain momentum with a shift in focus to carbon-neutrality claims, businesses must exercise caution and ensure transparency in their environmental marketing practices, taking cues from recent legal challenges in the airline industry, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

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