Food & Beverage

  • 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.

  • May 29, 2024

    Barilla Pasta Buyers Win Class Cert. In Italy Labeling Suit

    A California federal judge on Tuesday certified a class action alleging Barilla falsely labels its pasta as being made in Italy after she rejected the company's argument the class is insufficiently defined since it removed the challenged representation in 2022, finding a well-defined class can include those who suffered no injury.

  • May 29, 2024

    Kansas Gov. Sets June Special Session On Taxes

    The Republican-led Kansas Legislature will meet in a special session June 18 to consider tax relief legislation, the state's governor said Wednesday, calling for compromise following her veto of a bill to reduce income tax rates.

  • May 29, 2024

    Commerce Readies 250% Duty For Cambodian Paper Bags

    The U.S. Department of Commerce determined a nearly 250% final anti-dumping duty rate for certain Cambodia-origin paper shopping bags, saying a company hindered the department's probe into whether the bags were hurting the U.S. through unfairly priced imports.

  • May 29, 2024

    Anheuser-Busch, Tilray Fight Beer Sale Injunction Bid

    Anheuser-Busch InBev and Tilray Brands Inc. want a New York federal court to deny an injunction to a distributor alleging they are interfering with its contract to exclusively export craft beers, saying the contract is unenforceable and the potential harm is only speculative.

  • May 28, 2024

    Ranchers' Claims Again Tossed From Beef Price-Fixing MDL

    A Minnesota federal judge has once again thrown out beef price-fixing claims brought by ranchers who raise cattle and calves, ruling Tuesday that the ranchers still haven't clearly established they are directly affected by the alleged scheme.

  • May 28, 2024

    Agri Stats Can't Duck Or Transfer DOJ, States' Antitrust Suit

    Agri Stats can't transfer or dismiss an antitrust case brought by the U.S. Department of Justice and six states that accuses the third-party data compiler of helping meat processors swap sensitive business information, a Minnesota federal judge ruled Tuesday.

  • May 28, 2024

    Chiquita Ops Chief Says Militant Leader Extorted Company

    Chiquita's former head of Colombia operations took the stand Tuesday for the second time in a trial over the banana company's funding of right-wing paramilitaries, recounting to jurors how he was summoned to the house of a notorious paramilitary boss to convey what he said were threats on the company's business.

  • May 28, 2024

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    Delaware Court of Chancery watchers shifted their focus last week from the courtroom to Dover's legislative hall, as proposed amendments to Delaware's corporate code were finally introduced to state lawmakers. Hearings, decisions and reversals involved Kraft-Heinz, AMC Entertainment and the merger of cryptocurrency companies BitGo and Galaxy. In case you missed it, here's the latest from Delaware's Chancery Court.  

  • May 28, 2024

    Chicken Buyers Defend Additional $37M Atty Fee Ask

    Direct chicken buyers who have inked more than $284 million in price-fixing settlements defended their counsel's request for more than $37 million in what would be their third payout in the massive case, saying the request is consistent with both precedent and past experience.

  • May 28, 2024

    Kroger, Albertsons Must Give FTC Texts, Written Notes

    Claims from a pair of multibillion-dollar grocery giants that a discovery request will pose financial burden held no sway over a Federal Trade Commission in-house judge who last week ordered Kroger and Albertsons to produce text messages and handwritten notes from key employees as part of the agency's merger challenge.

  • May 28, 2024

    Guinness Brewer Beats Appeal In Whiskey Bottle TM Dispute

    The Second Circuit on Tuesday upheld a post-trial order requiring a spirits maker to redesign its bottles after a jury found they dilute Guinness beer maker Diageo's trademark rights for its own whiskey brand.

  • May 28, 2024

    5 Firms To Steer Pair Of Large IPOs That Could Net $1.8B Total

    Private-equity backed hospital billing firm Waystar Holding Corp. and aluminum recycling giant Novelis Inc. on Tuesday launched plans for two initial public offerings that could raise an estimated $1.8 billion combined, guided by five law firms, potentially testing the strength of the IPO market's recovery.

  • May 28, 2024

    Edwards Urges Full Fed. Circ. To Limit FDA Safe Harbor

    Edwards Lifesciences has petitioned the full Federal Circuit to narrow its interpretation of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration safe harbor that essentially allows patent infringement during drug development, arguing that if Congress wanted the statute to be interpreted broadly, "it would have said exactly that."

  • May 28, 2024

    Davis Wright Recruits Kelley Drye FDA Practice Chair In DC

    Davis Wright Tremaine LLP said Tuesday that the head of Kelley Drye & Warren LLP's Food and Drug Administration practice group has joined the firm as an advertising and food and drug law partner in Washington, D.C.

  • May 28, 2024

    Colo. Creates Tax Credits For Agricultural Stewardship

    Colorado farms and ranches that use certain agricultural stewardship practices will be eligible for tax credits of up to $300,000 under legislation signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis.

  • May 24, 2024

    Top Senate Banking Dem Presses DoorDash On Biz Advances

    Food ordering and delivery platform DoorDash has come under fire from the chair of the U.S. Senate's banking committee over merchant cash advance products offered on its platform, with the lawmaker saying the typically high costs of such offerings bear "a troubling similarity to payday lending practices."

  • May 24, 2024

    9th Circ. Says H-2A Employers Must Pay Highest Wages

    The Ninth Circuit on Friday said the U.S. Department of Labor can't let employers pay foreign farmworkers on H-2A visas a lower wage rate, rejecting the department's argument that the matter is moot because the previous harvest season is over.

  • May 24, 2024

    Logan Paul's Energy Drink Co. Sues Boxer For Defamation

    Prime Hydration, led by YouTube celebrity Logan Paul, has accused boxer Ryan Garcia of defamation in Texas federal court over his ongoing campaign to paint the drink in a negative light, including saying it contains harmful chemicals like cyanide that will "hurt you big time."

  • May 24, 2024

    Shuttered Paper Mill Flouted $12M Incentive Deal, NC AG Says

    The state of North Carolina is suing food and beverage packaging company Pactiv Evergreen to recoup $12 million in economic incentives the company allegedly accepted to keep a local mill up and running after it abruptly shuttered the facility last year.

  • May 24, 2024

    Judge Finds Cannabis Tracking Suit Targeted Wrong Agency

    A Colorado maker of cannabis edibles lost its bid to block state marijuana regulators from requiring that cannabis companies buy inventory trackers made by Florida-based Metrc, a nationwide vendor of such tags, when a state judge ruled that the edibles-maker sued the wrong agency.

  • May 24, 2024

    Food Supplier Says Exec Raided Files, Jumped to Competitor

    A senior sales executive at a Massachusetts food distributor spent his final days with the company slipping in after hours and on weekends to print out and photocopy customer records and other trade secrets, before jumping to a direct competitor, according to a lawsuit filed in state court.

  • May 24, 2024

    Biden's Judicial Impact And What's Left On The Wish List

    President Joe Biden secured confirmation of his 200th federal judge Wednesday and has transformed the judiciary by picking more women and people of color than any other president. But the upcoming election season could derail his hopes of confirming many more judges.

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • Compliance Primer: Foreign Investment In US Real Property

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    The rise in foreign investment in U.S. real property, especially agricultural land, has led to increased national security concerns, meaning it’s important to understand reporting requirements under the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act and state-level statutes, and to monitor legislative proposals that could create more stringent reporting and review processes, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • New Initiatives Will Advance Corporate Biodiversity Reporting

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    Two important recent developments — the launch of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures' framework on nature and biodiversity reporting, and Nature Action 100's announcement of the 100 companies it plans to engage on biodiversity issues — will help bring biodiversity disclosures into the mainstream, say David Woodcock and Maria Banda at Gibson Dunn.

  • Class Action Defense: Don't Give Up On Bristol-Myers Squibb

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    Federal appellate court decisions in the six years since the U.S. Supreme Court decided Bristol-Myers Squibb show that it's anyone's ballgame in class action jurisdictional arguments, so defendants are encouraged to consider carefully whether, where and when arguing lack of specific personal jurisdiction may be advantageous, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • Pro Bono Work Is Powerful Self-Help For Attorneys

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    Oct. 22-28 is Pro Bono Week, serving as a useful reminder that offering free legal help to the public can help attorneys expand their legal toolbox, forge community relationships and create human connections, despite the challenges of this kind of work, says Orlando Lopez at Culhane Meadows.

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