Food & Beverage

  • August 19, 2024

    Pilgrim's Pride Agrees To Pay $100M In Chicken Farmers' Suit

    Pilgrim's Pride will pay $100 million to broiler chicken farmers to settle claims it conspired with other competitive chicken producers to suppress farmer compensation, according to the plaintiffs' preliminary approval bid filed Friday in Oklahoma federal court.

  • August 19, 2024

    Kroger Flips Script, Challenges FTC's Constitutionality

    Kroger went on the offensive Monday, a week before Oregon federal court proceedings kick off in the Federal Trade Commission's challenge to its purchase of Albertsons, in a lawsuit going after the constitutionality of the agency's in-house court, also set to contest the merger.

  • August 19, 2024

    Colo. Justices Won't Hear Cheese Heiress' Appeal

    The Colorado Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal from a minority owner of a private, $5 billion cheese company in her case against the company's former CEO, who is also her uncle, in her failed billion-dollar suit over alleged shareholder oppression.

  • August 19, 2024

    Colo. Justices To Weigh On Minimum Wage Claims' Timing

    The Colorado Supreme Court said Monday it will clear up whether the Colorado Wage Claim Act's shorter statute of limitations applies to claims brought under the state's Minimum Wage Act.

  • August 19, 2024

    Aramark Gets Green Light For Solo Turkey Antitrust Case

    An Illinois federal judge has refused to dismiss Aramark's individual antitrust lawsuit alleging that turkey producers exchanged competitively sensitive information, rejecting arguments that the claims were untimely because the statute of limitations was tolled by the filing of a similar class action in 2019.

  • August 19, 2024

    Civil Rights Activist's Name Being Stolen For Diner, Suit Says

    The fight over the name of a New Jersey diner has spilled into federal court, with the family of a former operator and Garden State civil rights icon claiming the now-owners of the building home to the eponymous "Mr. G's" can't reopen it with the same name.

  • August 19, 2024

    Insurer Blames Panda Express Grease For $176K Water Leak

    An insurer demanded Chinese fast food chain Panda Express Inc. repay it more than $176,000 for damages allegedly caused when the restaurant's grease-filled pipes backed up, leaking water into a clothing store covered by the insurer, in a case the eatery moved to Washington federal court.

  • August 19, 2024

    Calif. Lawmakers Decline To Advance Hemp THC Law

    A California bill that would have imposed new THC limits on hemp consumables is unlikely to become law this year, after lawmakers declined to move it out of committee.

  • August 19, 2024

    FTC Says Albertsons Execs Deleted Texts About Merger

    The Federal Trade Commission accused executives from Albertsons of deleting text messages about the supermarket chain's planned megamerger with Kroger, saying the messages likely contained valuable internal views about the effects of the $25 billion deal.

  • August 19, 2024

    Recipe Changing For NYC Restaurant Wage Suits

    After years of million-dollar settlements with their waiters and front-of-house staff, most of New York’s large restaurants have equipped themselves with attorneys and compliance pros to head off potential lawsuits, while mom-and-pop eateries often struggle to keep up with evolving wage and tipping rules.

  • August 19, 2024

    7-Eleven Parent Confirms Canadian Takeover Offer

    The parent company of 7-Eleven said Monday that it has received a preliminary takeover proposal from Canada-based Alimentation Couche-Tard, a revelation that comes a year after the business faced activist pressure.

  • August 16, 2024

    9th Circ. Throws Alaska Fishers A Lifeline In Orca Food Case

    Alaskan salmon fishers got the green light to continue their hunts as the Ninth Circuit on Friday said a Washington federal judge "glossed over" severe economic consequences in holding that the fishing illegally reduced a food source for endangered orcas in Washington state.

  • August 16, 2024

    PepsiCo Can't Nix Suit Over Gatorade Bars' 'Health Halo'

    A California federal judge trimmed but declined to toss a putative consumer class action alleging PepsiCo created a "deceptive health halo" around its Gatorade brand protein bars, ruling that three self-proclaimed fitness enthusiasts plausibly alleged reasonable consumers could be misled by the company's marketing, ads and labels.

  • August 16, 2024

    Burger King Sued For Books In Del. On Big Site Buy

    Burger King investors filed a Delaware Court of Chancery lawsuit Friday seeking a look at the burger chain's books and records on the merger with its parent company, Restaurant Brands International Inc., arguing the information is necessary to confirm whether the deal was fair.

  • August 16, 2024

    Servers Get Partial Win In Tip Suit Against Restaurant Chain

    Servers claiming a restaurant chain violated tip credit regulations can snag a partial win in their suit, an Ohio federal judge ruled, saying they performed enough untipped work, but they didn't spend enough time performing tip-supporting tasks.

  • August 16, 2024

    9th Circ. Upholds Tribe's Win In Washington Dam Suit

    The Ninth Circuit on Friday upheld an order requiring that a Washington hydroelectric company alter its rock pile dam on the Puyallup River, handing another win to the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, which says the dam is threatening several species of endangered fish.

  • August 16, 2024

    TCJA's Estate Tax Treatment Shouldn't Change, Panel Told

    If the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act's estate tax exemption increase is allowed to lapse in 2025, many family farms in the Midwest would face tough choices, including whether to sell to large corporations, panelists told the House of Representatives' Ways and Means Committee on Friday.

  • August 16, 2024

    Fla. Advertising Co. Says Pot Cos. Didn't Pay Up For Services

    A Miami advertising agency is suing the cannabis companies behind the Cookies brand, claiming they failed to pay for months of work worth tens of thousands of dollars.

  • August 16, 2024

    Mass. Dunkin' Franchise Sued Over Hot Coffee Spill

    A Massachusetts Dunkin' franchise was hit with a lawsuit by a customer who said he was seriously burned when the lid came off his coffee as an employee handed it to him at the drive-thru window in May.

  • August 16, 2024

    Atty Gets 32 Months In Prison For Bribing Chicago Alderman

    An Illinois federal judge on Friday sentenced an immigration attorney and real estate developer convicted of bribing former Chicago Alderman Ed Burke to two years and eight months in prison, maintaining prison time is warranted because the lawyer initiated the bribe and tried to hide it from federal agents and the grand jury.

  • August 16, 2024

    NC AG Readies Appeal In Fight Over Smithfield Foods Funds

    North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein is taking a fight over millions of dollars in environmental grants to the state appeals court, after a trial judge found the funds should be exclusively set aside for use in public schools.

  • August 16, 2024

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

    This past week in London has seen Barry Manilow sued by music rights company Hipgnosis, a struck-off immigration lawyer take on the Solicitor's Disciplinary Tribunal and the former CEO of a collapsed bridging loan firm start proceedings against the FCA. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • August 16, 2024

    Taxation With Representation: Cleary, Kirkland, Skadden

    In this week's Taxation with Representation, Mars Inc. sets a 2024 record with its $36 billion acquisition of Kellanova, Carlyle inks a $3.8 billion purchase with Baxter International Inc., and Performance Food Group Co. agrees to a $2.1 billion cash deal with Cheney Bros. Inc.

  • August 16, 2024

    Harris Economic Plan Targets Food Mergers, Price-Gouging

    Vice President Kamala Harris unveiled an economic plan Friday that said her administration would "crack down" on large corporate food mergers and introduce the first-ever ban on price-gouging, a promise that comes just days after the announcement of one of the largest ever food industry tie-ups.

  • August 15, 2024

    Green Group Backs Feds' Denial Of Water Co.'s Right-Of-Way

    Save Our Forest Association urged a D.C. federal judge on Thursday to reject the company behind Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water's attempt to block the federal government from requiring it cease operation of its 23,000-foot-long water pipeline in Berkeley, California's Strawberry Canyon.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Baking Bread Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    After many years practicing law, and a few years baking bread, I have learned that there are a few keys to success in both endeavors, including the assembly of a nourishing and resilient culture, and the ability to learn from failure and exercise patience, says Rick Robinson at Reed Smith.

  • 3 Key Class Action Trends To Use As Guidance In 2024

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    Telephone Consumer Protection Act, privacy and false advertising class actions saw significant shifts last year — including a trend toward expanding the application of preexisting laws to current technologies — that businesses should keep in mind to navigate the class action landscape in 2024, say attorneys at Mintz.

  • Federal Courts And AI Standing Orders: Safety Or Overkill?

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    Several district court judges have issued standing orders regulating the use of artificial intelligence in their courts, but courts should consider following ordinary notice and comment procedures before implementing sweeping mandates that could be unnecessarily burdensome and counterproductive, say attorneys at Curtis.

  • Time To Step Up PFAS Due Diligence In Cross-Border M&A

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    Regulations in the U.S. and EU governing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances will likely evolve to become global standards out of necessity and scale, so PFAS due diligence — particularly for buyers, sellers, and lenders and investors involved in multijurisdictional mergers and acquisitions — will be essential in 2024, say attorneys at Shipman & Goodwin.

  • How 4 State AGs Are Shaping Data Privacy Compliance

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    As the landscape of state data privacy laws continues to grow across the nation, understanding how state attorneys general — such as in California, Colorado, Connecticut and Virginia — are thinking about these laws is critical to begin forecasting how enforcement will play out, say Michelle Kallen and Daniel Echeverri at Jenner & Block.

  • 7 E-Discovery Predictions For 2024 And Beyond

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    The legal and technical issues of e-discovery now affect virtually every lawsuit, and in the year to come, practitioners can expect practices and policies to evolve in a number of ways, from the expanded use of relevancy redactions to mandated information security provisions in protective orders, say attorneys at Littler.

  • 4 International Arbitration Trends To Monitor In 2024

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    Global growth slowed substantially in 2023, and may continue into 2024 due to geopolitical instability, which could fuel four key trends in international arbitration in the coming year, including investor-state and commercial arbitration, an increase in arbitration out of China, and more, say Gregory Litt and Sharmistha Chakrabarti at Skadden.

  • 5 Litigation Funding Trends To Note In 2024

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    Over the next year and beyond, litigation funding will continue to evolve in ways that affect attorneys and the larger litigation landscape, from the growth of a secondary market for funded claims, to rising interest rates restricting the availability of capital, says Jeffery Lula at GLS Capital.

  • Series

    ESG Around The World: South Africa

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    While South Africa has yet to mandate the reporting of nonfinancial and environmental, social, and corporate governance issues, policy documents and recent legislative developments are likely to have a material impact in the country's transition to a low-carbon economy and in meeting its international obligations, say Glynn Kent at Eversheds Sutherland.

  • 4 Legal Ethics Considerations For The New Year

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    As attorneys and clients reset for a new year, now is a good time to take a step back and review some core ethical issues that attorneys should keep front of mind in 2024, including approaching generative artificial intelligence with caution and care, and avoiding pitfalls in outside counsel guidelines, say attorneys at HWG.

  • What The Law Firm Of The Future Will Look Like

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    As the legal landscape shifts, it’s become increasingly clear that the BigLaw business model must adapt in four key ways to remain viable, from fostering workplace flexibility to embracing technology, say Kevin Henderson and Eric Pacifici at SMB Law Group.

  • Navigating Class Actions After Papa John's Settlement Denial

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    A Kentucky federal court's surprising denial of preliminary approval for a $5 million settlement in the Papa John's no-poach case may prove to be an outlier but suggests a class action settlement would only be approved when a plaintiff demonstrates that a litigation class would be certified, say attorneys at Robins Kaplan.

  • 4 PR Pointers When Your Case Is In The News

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    Media coverage of new lawsuits exploded last year, demonstrating why defense attorneys should devise a public relations plan that complements their legal strategy, incorporating several objectives to balance ethical obligations and advocacy, say Nathan Burchfiel at Pinkston and Ryan June at Castañeda + Heidelman.

  • Food And Beverage Policy Trends Cos. Should Track In 2024

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    The list of legal issues food and beverage companies should watch out for in 2024 include the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Human Foods Program, the Food Safety and Inspection Service’s salmonella proposal, Proposition 12 and more, say Bob Hibbert and Amaru Sánchez at Wiley.

  • Compliance Refresher Amid DOL Child Labor Crackdown

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    In light of the Labor Department’s recent announcement of new penalty assessment procedures for child labor law violations, Erica MacDonald and Sylvia Bokyung St. Clair at Faegre Drinker discuss what employers should know about the department’s continued focus on this issue and how to bolster compliance efforts.

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