Try our Advanced Search for more refined results
Food & Beverage
-
June 01, 2024
Blockbuster Summer: 10 Big Issues Justices Still Must Decide
As the calendar flips over to June, the U.S. Supreme Court still has heaps of cases to decide on issues ranging from trademark registration rules to judicial deference and presidential immunity. Here, Law360 looks at 10 of the most important topics the court has yet to decide.
-
May 31, 2024
Ex-DEA Agent Told Jury Chiquita Was 'Victimized' By Militants
A former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent took the stand Friday in the federal trial against Chiquita Brands International Inc., testifying to jurors in Florida court that right-wing paramilitary group Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia was the leading supplier of cocaine and "victimized" the company by using it to smuggle drugs.
-
May 31, 2024
Chobani Founder To Reopen Anchor Brewing In San Francisco
Chobani Inc. founder Hamdi Ulukaya said Friday that he had acquired San Francisco-based Anchor Brewing Co., which closed its doors last year, calling it "the grand jewel" and promising to "bring it back stronger than ever before."
-
May 31, 2024
Fiji Water Beats $2M Breach-Of-Contract Verdict On Appeal
California appellate justices on Thursday dismissed Carolina Beverage's $2 million jury win in a contract case accusing Fiji Water of violating their distribution deal by selling Fiji directly to retailers, finding that the agreement wasn't constructively terminated because Carolina Beverage continued to deliver Fiji products to retailers, pursuant to their contract.
-
May 31, 2024
'Alkaline Water' Blamed For Liver Failures In Latest Trial
Eight Las Vegas residents on Friday became the latest group to try claims against an "alkaline water" company whose manufacturing process, their lawyer told a jury, introduced a chemical that caused their livers to fail.
-
May 31, 2024
Dunkin' Near Tossing Milk-Alternative Bias Case, For Now
A California federal judge indicated Friday she's inclined to dismiss a proposed class action claiming Dunkin Donuts LLC violates the Americans with Disabilities Act by charging extra for beverages with nondairy milk, but said she'll likely allow the plaintiff customers to amend their complaint.
-
May 31, 2024
Martinelli & Co. Sued Over Arsenic In Apple Juice
A consumer hit S. Martinelli & Co. with a proposed class action in New York federal court Friday over allegations that the company failed to disclose that its apple juice contains arsenic, saying a recent recall campaign has been "a complete and abject failure."
-
May 31, 2024
DC Judge Takes Dim View Of Proposed 'Surfside' TM Deal
A D.C. federal judge has refused to enforce a scrapped settlement in a trademark dispute between a Mexican restaurant operator and a distilling company over the name "Surfside," saying there wasn't ever an enforceable deal.
-
May 31, 2024
Group Sued Over Immigrants' Benefits Too Late, Panel Holds
A Michigan state appeals court has nixed a nonprofit's challenge to the court's ruling that working while unauthorized is a crime and that immigrant workers are not entitled to benefits once their unauthorized status is discovered, saying the group brought the lawsuit in an untimely manner.
-
May 31, 2024
Trade Court Orders Commerce Redo Of Brazilian Honey Duties
The U.S. Court of International Trade ordered the U.S. Department of Commerce to reconsider substituting certain facts for information the department said a Brazilian honey producer withheld, saying the producer did provide the requested information.
-
May 31, 2024
Haleon Sued Over 'Natural Flavors' Emergen-C Labels
Pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Holdings, now Haleon PLC, was hit with a proposed class action in California federal court by two consumers who allege the company falsely labels its vitamin C drink mix as containing natural flavors even though its made with artificial ingredients.
-
May 31, 2024
NY Appeals Court Backs Trimming Of 50 Cent Liquor Spat
A New York appeals court has said a lower court rightly dismissed some components of a suit brought by a fine liquors company owned by rapper 50 Cent, allowing Jim Beam and its parent company to escape the rapper's claims they aided a fraud and rejecting his request for punitive damages and attorney fees.
-
May 31, 2024
Kroger's $6M BIPA Deal With 6K Workers Gets Final OK
An Illinois federal judge granted final approval to a class of about 6,000 Food4Less employees on their $6 million settlement resolving claims Kroger Co. subsidiary Ralphs unlawfully stored and used their biometric data after requiring them to scan their fingerprints to clock in and out of their shifts.
-
May 31, 2024
Colo. Judge Will Consider Kroger Divestiture Plan
A Colorado state judge ruled Friday that Kroger Co. can discuss its latest divestiture plan at a hearing on the attorney general's request to temporarily block a $24 billion proposed merger with Albertsons, saying federal courts have not excluded such evidence from similar injunction proceedings.
-
May 31, 2024
DOL Asks To Wait To Disclose Workers In Fishery Wage Case
The U.S. Department of Labor urged a Mississippi federal court to halt the disclosure of the identities of some migrant workers who helped in the department's investigation of a fish farm, saying that it plans to ask the court to reconsider ordering the disclosure.
-
May 30, 2024
Okla. Tribes Say Bills Won't Deter Poultry Biz From Polluting
The Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes says two bills working their way through the Oklahoma Legislature don't go far enough to deter the poultry industry from polluting and threaten to undo decades of progress toward improving water quality.
-
May 30, 2024
USDA Should Redo $44M Software Order Again, GAO Says
The Government Accountability Office publicly released a decision on Thursday in support of a company's protest of a $44.2 million Department of Agriculture task order for software support for conservation-related programs, concluding the order was not properly issued.
-
May 30, 2024
Honduran Workers Say Carnival Overworked, Underpaid Them
Two Honduran seasonal workers have filed suit in a Virginia federal court, saying they were forced to work 80 hours a week assembling and disassembling rides for a traveling carnival for only a little more than $400 a week.
-
May 30, 2024
Divided FTC Won't Delay Kroger-Albertsons In-House Case
The Federal Trade Commission's three Democrats refused Wednesday to delay the agency in-house challenge to Kroger's $24.6 billion purchase of Albertsons, blaming the grocery giants for their scheduling challenges and drawing a sharp dissent from the FTC's two Republicans.
-
May 30, 2024
Grocery Automation Biz Files Ch. 11 With $13M In Debt
E-grocery automation system maker Takeoff Technologies filed for Chapter 11 protection Thursday in Delaware bankruptcy court with nearly $13 million in debt, saying that, after eight years in business, it had been unable to generate the cash flow it needed to turn a profit.
-
May 30, 2024
Wine Distribution Giants Must Face Provi's Antitrust Suit
The nation's two largest wine and distilled spirits distributors must face unfair competition claims from an online marketplace accusing them of illegally trying to stifle competition and shut it out of the market, an Illinois federal judge determined Thursday.
-
May 30, 2024
Commerce Pours Up 203% Duties For Chinese Wine Bottles
The U.S. Department of Commerce set early duties of 202.70% on wine bottles made by eight Chinese manufacturers who did not respond to the agency's questions, while the lone cooperator landed a preliminary rate of 21.14%.
-
May 30, 2024
Bottler Says It's Owed Defense In Wine Contamination Dispute
A wine bottler told a California federal court its insurer must reimburse defense costs it incurred while fighting a now-settled suit seeking to hold the company liable for a $1.2 million wine contamination, arguing the lawsuit didn't specifically allege what the bottler's actions were nor the cause of contamination.
-
May 29, 2024
5th Circ. Sends Hain Toxic Baby Food Suit To State Court
Grocery store chain Whole Foods Market Inc. and international food company Hain Celestial Group Inc. can't escape a lawsuit seeking to hold them liable for the mental and physical decline of a toddler, allegedly caused by tainted baby food they sold, the Fifth Circuit ruled, saying the case was improperly removed to federal court.
-
May 29, 2024
Russian Subway Franchisee Can't Tank Arbitral Awards
A Manhattan federal judge said he won't let a Russian Subway franchise owner win its contract dispute with the sandwich giant, instead granting the fast-food chain's petition to confirm two arbitral awards while denying the franchisee's bid to vacate them.
Expert Analysis
-
Judge-Shopping Policy Revisal May Make Issue Worse
The Judicial Conference at its March meeting unveiled a revised policy with the stated goal of limiting litigants’ ability to judge-shop in patent cases, but the policy may actually exacerbate the problem by tying the issue to judge-shopping in polarizing political cases, making reform more difficult, say Robert Niemeier and William Milliken at Sterne Kessler.
-
2nd Circ. Baby Food Ruling Disregards FDA's Expertise
The Second Circuit's recent decision in White v. Beech-Nut Nutrition, refusing to defer litigation over heavy metals in baby food until the U.S. Food and Drug Administration weighs in on the issue, provides no indication that courts will resolve the issue with greater efficiency than the FDA, say attorneys at Phillips Lytle.
-
A Rainbow Of Lessons From Fruity Pebbles' TTAB Loss
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s January decision to deny Post Foods' bid to register a trademark on its Fruity Pebbles cereal brand underscores the importance of the interplay among mark description, mark drawing and goods identification when seeking protection for trade dress, say Troy Viger and Jenevieve Maerker at Finnegan.
-
Assessing FDA Pathways For Genome-Edited Plant Foods
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's recent clarification of the regulatory pathways for foods produced from genome-edited plants seeks to strike a balance between public health and innovation, and may hold broader significance for developers of novel human foods subject to voluntary notification programs, say Emily Marden and Diane McEnroe at Sidley Austin.
-
TTAB Ruling May Broaden Alcohol Trademark Analysis
A February U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board decision that wine is inherently related to bars and cocktail lounges for trademark protection purposes appears to broaden the scope of exclusivity, highlighting that the more similar the marks, the less related the products must be for the TTAB to refuse registration, says William Borchard at Cowan Liebowitz.
-
Opinion
Judicial Independence Is Imperative This Election Year
As the next election nears, the judges involved in the upcoming trials against former President Donald Trump increasingly face political pressures and threats of violence — revealing the urgent need to safeguard judicial independence and uphold the rule of law, says Benes Aldana at the National Judicial College.
-
Document Retention Best Practices To Lower Litigation Risks
As new technologies emerge and terabytes of data can be within the purview of a single discovery request, businesses small and large should take four document management steps to effectively minimize risks of litigation and discovery sanctions long before litigation ensues, says Kimbrilee Weber at Norris McLaughlin.
-
Series
Riding My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Using the Peloton platform for cycling, running, rowing and more taught me that fostering a mind-body connection will not only benefit you physically and emotionally, but also inspire stamina, focus, discipline and empathy in your legal career, says Christopher Ward at Polsinelli.
-
Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents
Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.
-
CSA Case Could Shift Intrastate Commercial Cannabis
In Canna Provisions v. Merrick Garland, cannabis companies argue that the Controlled Substances Act is unconstitutional as applied to intrastate commercial cannabis activity; the Massachusetts federal court's eventual decision will be important to the cannabis industry for several reasons, including that the threat of federal enforcement would disappear overnight, says Hilary Bricken at Husch Blackwell.
-
What Recent Study Shows About AI's Promise For Legal Tasks
Amid both skepticism and excitement about the promise of generative artificial intelligence in legal contexts, the first randomized controlled trial studying its impact on basic lawyering tasks shows mixed but promising results, and underscores the need for attorneys to proactively engage with AI, says Daniel Schwarcz at University of Minnesota Law School.
-
Legal Considerations For Circular Economy Strategies
As circular economy goals — generating revenue at multiple points in a product's life cycle — become nearly ubiquitous in corporate sustainability practices, companies should reassess existing strategies by focusing on government incentives, regulations, and reporting and disclosure requirements, say Rachel Saltzman and Erin Grisby at Hunton.
-
Preempting Bottled Water Microplastics Fraud Claims
Food products like bottled water are increasingly likely to be targets of consumer fraud complaints due to alleged microplastics contamination — but depending on the labeling or advertising at issue, the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act can provide a powerful preemption defense, say Tariq Naeem and Brenda Sweet at Tucker Ellis.
-
Litigation Inspiration: A Source Of Untapped Fulfillment
As increasing numbers of attorneys struggle with stress and mental health issues, business litigators can find protection against burnout by remembering their important role in society — because fulfillment in one’s work isn’t just reserved for public interest lawyers, say Bennett Rawicki and Peter Bigelow at Hilgers Graben.
-
The Challenges Of Measuring Harm In Slack-Fill Cases
A recent California federal court partial class certification ruling was a rare victory for plaintiffs in a case over slack-fill empty space in packaged products, indicating that damages arguments may be important at the certification stage, say Sushrut Jain and Valentina Bernasconi at Edgeworth Economics.