January 01, 2024
Food and beverage attorneys have no shortage of interesting litigation to follow in 2024, from Starbucks' sprawling fight with employees who are determined to organize, to claims over heavy metals and "forever chemicals" contaminating food, and McDonald's asking the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on the issue of no-poach clauses in franchisee agreements.
August 25, 2023
A Seventh Circuit panel revived Friday a proposed antitrust class action challenging McDonald's since-discontinued no-poach provisions in franchisee agreements that barred employees from working at other locations, finding the allegations are sufficient and the trial court prematurely decided the "complex" antitrust issues.
March 31, 2023
The Seventh Circuit dug into antitrust pleading and analysis expectations on Friday as the court explored whether it should back a lower court's decision to let McDonald's escape two former employees' lawsuit targeting no-poach agreements the fast-food giant used to enter with franchisees.
March 10, 2023
The federal government has asked to appear during an upcoming Seventh Circuit argument to address several errors enforcers said the lower court made when tossing a suit from former McDonald's workers over its past use of no-poach provisions in franchise agreements.
January 11, 2023
Scholars and business groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce threw their support behind McDonald's Corp. as the fast food chain fights a Seventh Circuit appeal from workers alleging that its past use of no poach provisions in franchise agreements violated antitrust law.
January 05, 2023
McDonald's told the Seventh Circuit there is no basis to revive claims that it violated antitrust law by preventing franchisees from hiring staff who worked at other McDonald's locations, calling the since-discarded restriction an ancillary part of its pro-competitive business model.
January 02, 2023
The Federal Trade Commission prepares to test the limits of its authority to combat unfair methods of competition in the coming year, as the U.S. Department of Justice and state enforcers continue pushing aggressive antitrust agendas alongside new proposed class actions from private parties.
November 14, 2022
The federal government and labor and public interest groups have filed briefs backing two ex-McDonald's workers who asked the Seventh Circuit to take up their suit claiming the fast-food giant violated antitrust rules with its past no-poach provisions in franchise agreements.
July 29, 2022
A pair of former McDonald's workers have asked the Seventh Circuit to take up their lawsuit accusing the fast-food giant of violating antitrust rules by prohibiting its franchisees from hiring staff from another location, after an Illinois federal judge ruled against them.