Food & Beverage

  • April 16, 2024

    Amway Parent Must Face Trial In Retirees' 401(k) Suit

    A Michigan federal judge refused Tuesday to totally free Amway's parent company from a class action accusing it of stacking its 401(k) with unwise investments and excessive fees, saying a jury should determine whether the company's investment review process was prudent.

  • April 16, 2024

    6th Circ. Won't Rehear White Ex-Kroger Manager's Bias Case

    A former manager for Kroger will not get to argue his claims he was fired because he is a white man before the full Sixth Circuit, according to a new order, letting stand the appellate court's decision to dismiss the former manager's claims.

  • April 16, 2024

    Plaintiff Wants Big Sugar Antitrust Suits Consolidated In Fla.

    A plaintiff in one of more than a dozen antitrust suits accusing sugar companies of engaging in a price-fixing scheme argued that the litigation should be consolidated in Florida, which is responsible for more than half of all American sugarcane production and is home to more of the sugar company defendants than any other jurisdiction.

  • April 16, 2024

    Impossible Foods Slams 'Radical' TM Fight At High Court

    Impossible Foods has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reject a request by a marketing firm owned by a self-described "digital nomad" to review a split Ninth Circuit decision reviving the veggie burger-maker's trademark lawsuit against it, arguing the petition mischaracterizes personal jurisdiction legal precedent and makes "radical" constitutional arguments.

  • April 16, 2024

    Trade Commission Confirms Turkish Paper Bags Hurting US

    The U.S. International Trade Commission unanimously voted Tuesday that paper shopping bags imported from Turkey are hurting the United States' domestic industry through unfairly lower prices.

  • April 16, 2024

    Arbitration Pacts Leave Domino's Wage Suit Plaintiff-Less

    An expense reimbursement dispute against Domino's can't go forward because it will be without a named plaintiff, as the four drivers who were supposed to step in are all bound by arbitration agreements, a Michigan federal judge ruled Tuesday.

  • April 15, 2024

    McDonald's, Workers Battle Over Future Of No-Poach Case

    Workers suing McDonald's over its past use of no-poach provisions in franchise agreements have told an Illinois federal court the fast food chain is trying to slow down the case after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up its appeal.

  • April 15, 2024

    Shopper Says ConAgra Beans Poisoned Her With Ammonia

    A Colorado woman is suing ConAgra over alleged ammonia contamination in one of its refried bean products, claiming in a lawsuit removed to Colorado federal court Monday that one bite resulted in cuts, blisters and bleeding in her mouth and throat.

  • April 15, 2024

    Panera Hit With False Ad Suit Over 'Sprouted Grain' Bagel

    A customer hit Panera LLC with a proposed class action accusing the restaurant chain of falsely marketing its bagels as made with sprouted grains despite the main ingredient being less healthy non-sprouted grains, according to a suit removed to California federal court Friday.

  • April 15, 2024

    Canadian Supplement Co.'s Sale Hits Ch. 15 Snag In Del.

    A Delaware bankruptcy judge appeared skeptical Monday that an American judge can weigh in on a dispute over rights to Canadian assets, as counsel for a troubled nutritional supplement supplier based in Canada argued for U.S. recognition of a sale order from an insolvency court in its home country.

  • April 15, 2024

    Academics Push To Cut Investor Arbitration From Trade Deals

    Hundreds of law and economics professors have joined the chorus of calls on the left pressing U.S. President Joe Biden to snip investor-state dispute settlement provisions from existing trade deals, saying the legal mechanism privileges corporate entities over domestic citizens.

  • April 15, 2024

    Pet Food Brand Chicken Soup Says Supplier Hiked Costs

    A manufacturer that supplied the Chicken Soup for the Soul pet food brand bought ingredients from its own subsidiary, hiked prices and failed to deliver products, according to a response to the manufacturer's $3.1 million allegation that the name brand failed to pay for food already manufactured and sold to consumers.

  • April 15, 2024

    Food Supplier Sues Ga. City Over $1.5M Wastewater Penalties

    The city of Dawsonville, Georgia, and seven city officials have been sued in Georgia federal court by a food supplier that alleges the city threatened to shut off water and sewage service to its poultry processing plant based on more than $1.5 million in "illegally assessed" wastewater discharge penalties.

  • April 15, 2024

    Versace Mansion Workers Lose Bid To Revive Wage Claims

    Workers at the former Versace Mansion can't revive their minimum wage claims because a service fee charge is not a discretionary tip and was lawfully used to top off the workers' base hourly pay, the Eleventh Circuit said Monday.

  • April 15, 2024

    Dairy Co. Oberweis Hits Ch. 11 With Up To $50M In Debt

    Oberweis, a popular Illinois-based ice cream and dairy producer run by a former Republican state senator, has hit Chapter 11, disclosing it has as much as $50 million in liabilities.

  • April 15, 2024

    Justices Won't Nix FDA Labeling Preemption For State Claims

    The Supreme Court on Monday let stand lower court findings that the unique authority of the federal Food and Drug Administration preempted and, therefore, justified dismissing a proposed class action that alleged a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary broke Massachusetts law by misbranding Lactaid drug products as dietary supplements.

  • April 12, 2024

    Misconduct Doomed Dining Mat Patent Case, Fed. Circ. Rules

    The Federal Circuit on Friday upheld a decision that a maker of toddler dining mats torpedoed its patent case against a rival with "unconscionable" misconduct, and ordered a lower court to reconsider findings that the patent is invalid but not unenforceable.

  • April 12, 2024

    Petition Watch: Judge DQs, 'Excessive' Damages & Price Wars

    A former al-Qaida member has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to clarify disqualification protocol for judges overseeing a case related to their prior work as a government attorney, and energy drink manufacturers want the court to develop a modern-day test to determine if companies qualify as price-discrimination competitors. Here's four high court petitions filed recently that you might've missed.

  • April 12, 2024

    Abbott Labs Gets Price Claims Tossed In Baby Formula MDL

    An Illinois federal judge on Friday threw out a suit from parents alleging that Abbott Laboratories benefited from increased prices during a shortage of baby formula kicked off when one of its facilities was shut down, saying they haven't shown that the company's profits during that time were unjustly retained.

  • April 12, 2024

    Bimbo Beats False Ad Suit Over 'All Butter' Entenmann's Cake

    Bimbo Bakeries defeated a proposed class action alleging its Entenmann's brand "All Butter" loaf cake is misleading to customers since the butter taste is partially sourced from artificial vanillin, after a Maryland federal judge said Friday the claims are preempted by the U.S. Food Drug and Cosmetic Act.

  • April 12, 2024

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

    This past week in London has seen footwear brand Dr. Martens hit online retailer Temu with a passing off claim, Welsh soccer club Swansea sue its former head coach Russell Martin, Russian diamond tycoon Dmitry Tsvetkov file a claim against his former business Equix Group Ltd., and U.S. bank Omega Financial Corporation hit African oil and gas company Tende Energy with a claim. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • April 12, 2024

    High Court Keeps Arbitration Exemption's Focus On Workers

    The U.S. Supreme Court held Friday that distributors who delivered Tastykake, Wonder bread and other baked goods to retailers may qualify for an exemption from the Federal Arbitration Act that could let them keep their wage-and-hour suit in court.

  • April 11, 2024

    Gerber, Others Must Face Calif. MDL Over Baby Food Toxins

    A group of baby food manufacturers, including Gerber Products Co., Hain Celestial Group Inc. and Beech-Nut Nutrition Co., must face consolidated lawsuits alleging that heavy metals in their products cause autism spectrum disorder and other conditions in California federal court, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation ruled Thursday.

  • April 11, 2024

    FTC's Bedoya Looking For Market Power In Pricing Cases

    Federal Trade Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya said Thursday he is most interested in bringing potential cases under the Robinson Patman Act when a company is using its market power to gain an unfair advantage over smaller rivals.

  • April 11, 2024

    Chipotle Pays $2.9M To End Seattle Wage Violation Probe

    Fast-food chain Chipotle has agreed to pay nearly $2.9 million to more than 1,800 workers at eight of its restaurants in Seattle to resolve the city's investigation into employees' allegations that the employer violated local ordinances governing sick pay and scheduling, a city labor agency announced Thursday.

Expert Analysis

  • Employer Takeaways From 2nd Circ. Equal Pay Ruling

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    The Second Circuit 's recent decision in Eisenhauer v. Culinary Institute of America reversed a long-held understanding of the Equal Pay Act, ultimately making it easier for employers to defend against equal pay claims brought under federal law, but it is not a clear escape hatch for employers, say Thelma Akpan and Katelyn McCombs at Littler.

  • General Counsel Need Data Literacy To Keep Up With AI

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    With the rise of accessible and powerful generative artificial intelligence solutions, it is imperative for general counsel to understand the use and application of data for myriad important activities, from evaluating the e-discovery process to monitoring compliance analytics and more, says Colin Levy at Malbek.

  • Rite Aid's Reasons For Ch. 11 Go Beyond Opioid Suits

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    Despite opioid-related lawsuits being the perceived reason that pushed Rite Aid into bankruptcy, the company's recent Chapter 11 filing reveals its tenuous position in the pharmaceutical retail market, and only time will tell whether bankruptcy will right-size the company, says Daniel Gielchinsky at DGIM Law.

  • Navigating Discovery Of Generative AI Information

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    As generative artificial intelligence tools become increasingly ubiquitous, companies must make sure to preserve generative AI data when there is reasonable expectation of litigation, and to include transcripts in litigation hold notices, as they may be relevant to discovery requests, say Nick Peterson and Corey Hauser at Wiley.

  • Finding Focus: Strategies For Attorneys With ADHD

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    Given the prevalence of ADHD among attorneys, it is imperative that the legal community gain a better understanding of how ADHD affects well-being, and that resources and strategies exist for attorneys with this disability to manage their symptoms and achieve success, say Casey Dixon at Dixon Life Coaching and Krista Larson at Stinson.

  • How Fla. Bankruptcy Ruling May Affect Equity Owners

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    A Florida bankruptcy court’s recent ruling in Vital Pharmaceuticals — which rejected the Third Circuit’s Majestic Star decision that determined a bankrupt corporation’s flow-through status was not protected by the automatic stay — may significantly affect how equity owners can mitigate the impact of flow-through structures in bankruptcy, say Eric Behl-Remijan and Natasha Hwangpo at Ropes & Gray.

  • M&A Ruling Buoys Loss Calculation Method, R&W Insurance

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    The recent Southern District of New York decision in Taylor Precision Products v. Larimer affirms the use of EBITDA as a basis to quantify loss, highlighting the potential shortcomings of a traditional seller indemnity compared to representation and warranty insurance, say Mark Schwartz at Lockton, and William O’Neil and Gretchen Scavo at Winston & Strawn.

  • How Consumer Complaints Can Help Companies

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    As seen most recently in Zoom's terms of service controversy, consumer complaints — despite initially seeming troubling for companies — can offer businesses the opportunity to identify, tackle and resolve budding challenges before those challenges escalate into larger issues, say Meghan Stoppel and Hannah Cornett at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Opinion

    Life Sciences Regulators Must Write Cloud-Specific Guidance

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    As cloud services continue to revolutionize the life sciences industry's ability to conduct regulated activities, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other regulators should update their data management policies to clearly support and encourage use of cloud technology, say Nate Brown and Marlee Gallant at Akin.

  • Attorneys, Law Schools Must Adapt To New Era Of Evidence

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    Technological advancements mean more direct evidence is being created than ever before, and attorneys as well as law schools must modify their methods to account for new challenges in how this evidence is collected and used to try cases, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • Analyzing The Legal Ripples Of The EPA's PFAS Regulation

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    As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency makes major moves on its pledge to regulate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, the developing body of PFAS regulation will lead to an increase in litigation, and personal injury and product liability claims, say attorneys at Gordon & Rees.

  • The Growing Need For FLSA Private Settlement Rule Clarity

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    A Pennsylvania district court's recent ruling in Walker v. Marathon Petroleum echoes an interesting and growing trend of jurists questioning the need for — and legality of — judicial approval of private Fair Labor Standards Act settlements, which provides more options for parties to efficiently resolve their claims, says Rachael Coe at Moore & Van Allen.

  • Series

    ESG Around The World: The UK

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    Following Brexit, the U.K. has adopted a different approach to regulating environmental, social and governance factors from the European Union — an approach that focuses on climate disclosures by U.K.-regulated entities, while steering clear of the more ambitious objectives pursued by the EU, say attorneys at Dechert.

  • Boeing Opinion Strikes Blow Against Overpayment Theory

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    The Fifth Circuit's decision in Earl v. Boeing Co. casts doubt on consumers' standing to bring claims of overpayment for products later revealed to have defects — and suggests that it's more likely that those products would have been removed from the market, driving up the price of alternatives, say attorneys at Bush Seyferth.

  • Tips For Litigating Against Pro Se Parties In Complex Disputes

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    Litigating against self-represented parties in complex cases can pose unique challenges for attorneys, but for the most part, it requires the same skills that are useful in other cases — from documenting everything to understanding one’s ethical duties, says Bryan Ketroser at Alto Litigation.

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