Food & Beverage

  • July 02, 2024

    Butterball Must Face NC Worker's Assault Suit In State Court

    The North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that a lawsuit accusing turkey processor Butterball of failing to stop a worker's assault can't be resolved administratively because the injuries didn't occur in the course of the employee's work.

  • July 02, 2024

    Jollibee Buying Compose Coffee Majority Stake In $340M Deal

    Filipino global food chain Jollibee Foods Corp. disclosed in a securities filing Tuesday it is acquiring 70% of South Korean coffee franchise Compose Coffee at a roughly $340 million valuation, through its wholly owned subsidiary Jollibee Worldwide Pte.

  • July 02, 2024

    Commerce Finds No Proof Of Mexican Coolants' Duty Evasion

    The U.S. Department of Commerce found little evidence to support claims that Chinese cooling chemicals were being mixed in Mexico to dodge duties on a particular refrigerant, the agency announced following its preliminary circumvention inquiry.

  • July 01, 2024

    Crumbl Aims To Burn Privacy Suit Over Info-Tracking Cookies

    Crumbl LLC has urged a California federal judge to dismiss a proposed class action alleging the cookie maker helped payments processor Stripe Inc. illegally track customer activity and collect sensitive information via website cookies, saying the plaintiff's "poorly drafted" complaint fails to allege an underlying privacy violation.

  • July 01, 2024

    Visa, Mastercard Judge Says Apple Fee Case Should Exit MDL

    The Brooklyn federal judge handling multidistrict litigation over Visa and Mastercard merchant fees on Monday suggested that a case alleging the credit card companies had agreements with Apple that violated antitrust law should be sent back to Illinois federal court, saying the facts in the case are not similar enough.

  • July 01, 2024

    Military Store Service Says Blind Vendors Must Follow Process

    The U.S. Department of Defense asked a federal judge on Monday to dismiss a lawsuit filed by blind entrepreneurs accusing the military of ignoring a law that requires officials to prioritize businesses owned by blind people, arguing that the merchants should have completed the administrative process first.

  • July 01, 2024

    Washington State, Tribes Can Wade Into Water Regs Dispute

    A D.C. federal judge said Washington state and five Native American tribes can intervene in a business group's lawsuit trying to overturn the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's decision to reestablish water quality standards for the Evergreen State that it had rolled back during the Trump administration.

  • July 01, 2024

    Gluten Abounds In Trader Joe's Gluten-Free Bagels, Suit Says

    Trader Joe's has been hit with a proposed class action in California federal court claiming its "Gluten Free Almost Everything Bagels" actually contain high levels of gluten that exceed the legal limits for the claim.

  • July 01, 2024

    Wolfgang Puck Judge Chops Sanctions Bids In Royalty Fight

    A Florida magistrate judge on Sunday rejected competing sanctions bids in a contentious lawsuit filed by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck and interior designer Barbara Lazaroff claiming the owner of an appliance company hid assets to get out of paying a $2.4 million arbitration award for unpaid royalties.

  • July 01, 2024

    Aldi Unit, Warehouse Settle Suit Over Rodent-Ravaged Sweets

    A New Jersey federal court has permanently tossed a suit brought by an Aldi branch and its insurer seeking payback from a warehouse operator after rodents feasted on hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of chocolate stored there, signing off on a settlement.

  • July 01, 2024

    Commerce Bulks Up Chinese Pea Protein Duties To 355%

    The U.S. Department of Commerce announced final countervailing duties topping 355% for four Chinese makers of pea protein, while producers considered to be under government control will face anti-dumping duties approaching 270%.

  • July 01, 2024

    Starbucks Targets 'Starbuds' Marijuana Truck In IP Suit

    Starbucks has filed a trademark suit against the operator of a repurposed New York City food truck that sells marijuana under the brand Starbuds Flowers and uses an altered image of the coffee giant's iconic siren logo smoking a joint.

  • July 01, 2024

    SD Ban On Modified Hemp Products Allowed To Take Effect

    A new South Dakota state law prohibiting the processing of hemp derivatives into intoxicating products was allowed to go into effect Monday after a federal judge declined to grant an injunction halting its enforcement while a constitutional challenge played out.

  • July 01, 2024

    Newman's Own Hairbrush License Deal Barred By Conn. Court

    Two daughters of late Hollywood actor and philanthropist Paul Newman have won a temporary injunction in Connecticut state court against the use of his image and likeness in connection with a Wet Brush brand hairbrush, barring the licensing of his publicity and intellectual property rights to any product that is not food.

  • July 01, 2024

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    Two multimillion-dollar settlement approvals, a $25 million fee-shifting demand, and a biotech merger spoiled by murder: This was just the beginning of the drama last week in the nation's preeminent court of equity. Shareholders in satellite companies filed new cases, a cannabis company headed toward trial, and there were new developments in old disputes involving Tesla and Truth Social.

  • July 01, 2024

    Judge Won't Block Iowa Hemp Law Regulating THC Limits

    An Iowa law that imposes new restrictions on products with hemp-derived THC went into effect Monday after a federal judge, who previously expressed "serious concerns" about the statute's constitutionality, declined to grant a temporary restraining order halting its enforcement.

  • July 01, 2024

    Colo. Restaurant Says Insurer Must Cover Plumbing Damage

    A Denver restaurant said it is owed coverage for its property losses and a neighbor's demand for reimbursement after a sewage leak allegedly caused by defective plumbing work damaged a commercial condominium complex, telling a Colorado state court its insurer unreasonably denied or delayed coverage.

  • June 28, 2024

    Chevron's End Is Just The Start For Energized Agency Foes

    By knocking down a powerful precedent that has towered over administrative law for 40 years, the U.S. Supreme Court's right wing Friday gave a crowning achievement to anti-agency attorneys. But for those attorneys, the achievement is merely a means to an end, and experts expect a litigation blitzkrieg to materialize quickly in the aftermath.

  • June 28, 2024

    Visa, Mastercard Can Manage 'Greater' Fee Deal, Judge Says

    Visa and Mastercard could likely tolerate a "substantially greater judgment" than the proposed settlement valued at about $30 billion in multidistrict litigation over the credit card companies' merchant fees, a New York federal judge ruled in an order unsealed Friday evening, rejecting the parties deal.

  • June 28, 2024

    Iowa's Hemp Law Could Be 'Unconstitutionally Vague'

    A federal judge on Friday suggested she'd consider blocking an Iowa hemp law, set to go into effect Monday, which would impose new restrictions on THC levels and dole out criminal penalties, saying the statute "potentially raises due process concerns."

  • June 28, 2024

    In Chevron Case, Justices Trade One Unknown For Another

    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overrule a decades-old judicial deference doctrine may cause the "eternal fog of uncertainty" surrounding federal agency actions to dissipate and level the playing field in challenges of government policies, but lawyers warn it raises new questions over what rules courts must follow and how judges will implement them.

  • June 28, 2024

    Split 9th Circ. Revives Part Of Sprout Baby Food Label Suit

    A California couple suing Sprout Foods over nutrient statements on its baby food pouches can pursue a Golden State law claim but not fraud-based claims, a split Ninth Circuit panel ruled Friday, saying federal law doesn't preempt the state's labeling standards, but the parents haven't shown the products were misleading.

  • June 28, 2024

    The NFL Lost Big: What Happened, What Happens Next

    A California federal jury's rebuke of the NFL's Sunday Ticket broadcast package has the league staring down a $4.7 billion class action verdict, prompting experts to wonder why the league was willing to risk a jury trial in the first place and how it will try to overturn the verdict now that it lost.

  • June 28, 2024

    ITC Advances Probe Into Chinese Disposable Containers

    The U.S. International Trade Commission on Friday advanced an investigation into Chinese imports of disposable aluminum containers, pans, trays and lids after finding that the imports were potentially injuring domestic manufacturing.

  • June 28, 2024

    Off The Bench: NFL's Big Loss In Court, NBA Agent Spat

    In this week's Off The Bench, a jury delivers the NFL a $4.7 billion punch to the gut, an NBA agent looks to get paid for work that was credited to Rich Paul, and the Arizona Cardinals try to get a former executive's defamation claims sent to arbitration.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Teaching Yoga Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Being a yoga instructor has helped me develop my confidence and authenticity, as well as stress management and people skills — all of which have crossed over into my career as an attorney, says Laura Gongaware at Clyde & Co.

  • TTAB Ruling Raises Foreign-Language Mark Questions

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    The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board's recent decision to cancel the Veuve Olivier registration due to its similarity to Veuve Clicquot brings new focus to the treatment of foreign terms and the doctrine of foreign equivalents, say attorneys at Finnegan.

  • Best Practices To Accommodate Workplace Service Animals

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Since the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently pledged to enforce accommodations for people with intellectual, developmental and mental health-related disabilities, companies should use an interactive process to properly respond when employees ask about bringing service animals into the workplace, say Samuel Lillard and Jantzen Mace at Ogletree.

  • A Vision For Economic Clerkships In The Legal System

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    As courts handle increasingly complex damages analyses involving vast amounts of data, an economic clerkship program — integrating early-career economists into the judicial system — could improve legal outcomes and provide essential training to clerks, say Mona Birjandi at Data for Decisions and Matt Farber at Secretariat.

  • Opinion

    State-Regulated Cannabis Can Thrive Without Section 280E

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    Marijauna's reclassification as a Schedule III-controlled substance comes at a critical juncture, as removing marijuana from being subjected to Section 280E of the Internal Revenue Code is the only path forward for the state-regulated cannabis industry to survive and thrive, say Andrew Kline at Perkins Coie and Sammy Markland at FTI Consulting.

  • 4 Sectors Will Likely Bear Initial Brunt Of FTC 'Junk Fees' Rule

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    If the Federal Trade Commission adopts its comprehensive proposed rule to ban unfair or deceptive fees across the U.S. economy, many businesses — including those in the lodging, event ticketing, dining and transportation sectors — will need to reexamine the way they market and price their products and services, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Text Message Data

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    Electronically stored information on cellphones, and in particular text messages, can present unique litigation challenges, and recent court decisions demonstrate that counsel must carefully balance what data should be preserved, collected, reviewed and produced, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • What CRA Deadline Means For Biden Admin. Rulemaking

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    With the 2024 election rapidly approaching, the Biden administration must race to finalize proposed agency actions within the next few weeks, or be exposed to the chance that the following Congress will overturn the rules under the Congressional Review Act, say attorneys at Covington.

  • 5 Climate Change Regulatory Issues Insurers Should Follow

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    The climate change landscape for insurers has changed dramatically recently — and not just because of the controversy over the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate-related risk disclosure rules, says Thomas Dawson at McDermott.

  • 8 Questions To Ask Before Final CISA Breach Reporting Rule

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    The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s recently proposed cyber incident reporting requirements for critical infrastructure entities represent the overall approach CISA will take in its final rule, so companies should be asking key compliance questions now and preparing for a more complicated reporting regime, say Arianna Evers and Shannon Mercer at WilmerHale.

  • Justices Clarify FAA But Leave Behind Important Questions

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision last month in Bissonnette v. LePage firmly shuts the door on any argument that the Federal Arbitration Act's Section 1 exemption is limited to transportation workers whose employers transport goods on behalf of others, but two major issues remain unresolved, say Joshua Wesneski and Crystal Weeks at Weil.

  • PE In The Crosshairs Of Public And Private Antitrust Enforcers

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    A series of decisions from a California federal court in the recently settled Packaged Seafood Products Antitrust Litigation, as well as heightened scrutiny from federal agencies, serve as a reminder that private equity firms may be exposed to liability for alleged anti-competitive conduct by their portfolio companies, say attorneys at Axinn.

  • Series

    Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.

  • A Recipe For Growth Equity Investing In A Slow M&A Market

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    Carl Marcellino at Ropes & Gray discusses the factors bolstering appetite for growth equity fundraising in a depressed M&A market, and walks through the deal terms and other ingredients that set growth equity transactions apart from bread-and-butter venture capital investing.

  • What 100 Federal Cases Suggest About Changes To Chevron

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    With the U.S. Supreme Court poised to overturn or narrow its 40-year-old doctrine of Chevron deference, a review of 100 recent federal district court decisions confirm that changes to the Chevron framework will have broad ramifications — but the magnitude of the impact will depend on the details of the high court's ruling, say Kali Schellenberg and Jon Cochran at LeVan Stapleton.

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