Food & Beverage

  • April 01, 2024

    Feds Catch Win In Alaska Subsistence Fishing Dispute

    A federal judge has granted the U.S. government's bid for an early win in its challenge against Alaska over subsistence fishing rules in the Kuskokwim River, which runs through the state's southwest region, ruling that the United States is entitled to a permanent injunction.

  • April 01, 2024

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    Last week, Delaware's Court of Chancery saw a $42.5 million settlement, dismissal of two big suits with two more remanded back, and new cases from shareholders of Walt Disney, Donald Trump's Truth Social, Rivian Automotive and BarkBox.

  • April 01, 2024

    Sports Illustrated Hits 'Gangster' Ex-Publisher With IP Suit

    The owner of Sports Illustrated alleges in a $49 million lawsuit filed Monday in Manhattan federal court that an energy drink mogul acted like a "gangster" when he became the magazine's publisher, tearing apart a long-standing licensing agreement while sabotaging the brand and holding hostage valuable intellectual property.

  • April 01, 2024

    Bankrupt Water Co. Investors Say CEO Stole Millions

    Investors of now-defunct water purification company Water Now said its former CEO ran the business into the ground while enriching himself, telling a Texas federal court Friday that the executive used the company to take out significant loans and line his own pockets.

  • April 01, 2024

    Tribe, Allies Defend Standing To Fight Corps' Fish Farm Permit

    The Army Corps of Engineers is trying to "muddy the water" to fend off a challenge to a nationwide permit opening ocean waters to aquaculture operations, failing to justify why the permit shouldn't be scrapped, the Quinault Indian Nation and nonprofit allies have told a Washington federal judge.

  • April 01, 2024

    Swedish Match Sued Over Allegedly Youth Targeted Zyn Ads

    Philip Morris International and its subsidiary Swedish Match North America LLC have been hit with a putative class action from an unnamed California man alleging he became addicted to the company's Zyn smokeless oral nicotine pouches when he was a minor because of the product's marketing campaign.

  • April 01, 2024

    Mass. Top Court At A Loss Over 7-Eleven Wage Case

    The top court in Massachusetts on Monday appeared stumped by whether owners of 7-Eleven franchisees should be classified as employees under state law, with one justice calling the issue "almost incomprehensible."

  • April 01, 2024

    Fla. High Court Says Voters Will Choose Whether To Legalize Pot

    Florida voters will have the opportunity to legalize recreational marijuana at the ballot box this November, after the state Supreme Court on Monday rejected a challenge brought by the state's attorney general and ruled that the proposal didn't violate a state rule restricting ballot measures to only one subject.

  • April 01, 2024

    Reduced Dolphin Threat Revives US-New Zealand Fish Trade

    New Zealand's fisheries can begin shipping seafood to the U.S. again, after the U.S. Court of International Trade accepted a finding on Monday that the New Zealand government had taken steps to protect the endangered Maui dolphin from harmful fishing techniques.

  • April 01, 2024

    Aramark Accuses Aetna Of 'Gamesmanship' In Benefits Fight

    Aramark said Aetna sued it over an arbitration pact in Connecticut as a tactical response to Aramark's Texas suit claiming the insurer cost it millions by approving shoddy health benefit claims, and urged a federal judge to ship Aetna's suit to Texas as well.

  • March 29, 2024

    Strange But True: Product Liability Stories For April Fools'

    Severed digits and fried rodents in food, e-cigarettes shaped like liquor bottles and claims that the advertising for Reese's peanut butter candies dashes consumers' expectations made Law360's list of strange cases for April Fool's.

  • March 29, 2024

    'Antiquated' Doctrine Can't Cut Burford Unit From Turkey Suit

    An Illinois federal judge has refused to block a Burford Capital investment unit from pursuing price-fixing allegations in a consolidated case against major turkey producers, saying federal law largely no longer recognizes the "antiquated" doctrine the producers cited to invalidate the claim.

  • March 29, 2024

    Tribes Lose Challenge To Minnesota Water Quality Regs

    A Minnesota federal judge on Friday shot down a suit by two Native American tribes accusing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency of allowing the state to adopt less protective water quality standards that could harm their reservations' wildlife and crops.

  • March 29, 2024

    Texas Farmers Sue USDA Over Sex, Race Disaster Aid Priorities

    A group of Texas farmers is asking a federal district judge to declare the U.S. Department of Agriculture's disaster assistance and pandemic relief programs unconstitutional, alleging in a complaint Friday that the government distributes the aid based on sex and race in violation of federal anti-discrimination laws.

  • March 29, 2024

    Lawmakers Call For Robinson-Patman Act Revival

    A group of lawmakers is urging the Federal Trade Commission to reinvigorate enforcement of the Robinson-Patman Act, a Roosevelt-era wholesale pricing statute that fell out of use in the 1970s, to help small businesses and stem the power of dominant grocery chains.

  • March 29, 2024

    5th Circ. Won't Revive La. Delivery Drivers' OT Suit

    Three Louisiana-based Flowers Foods delivery drivers fit an exemption in federal wage law for workers engaged in interstate commerce "any way you slice it," the Fifth Circuit found as it upheld the dismissal of their overtime lawsuit.

  • March 28, 2024

    Making Home Liquor Constitutional, Distillers Group Says

    A Texas federal judge decided that a case between the Hobby Distillers Association and the government over the right to make hard liquor at home could proceed on the merits after both sides argued about the constitutionality of homemade spirits during a hearing on Thursday.

  • March 28, 2024

    Prolific Consumer Atty Beats Fireball Maker's Sanctions Bid

    An Illinois federal judge has declined to sanction a prolific plaintiffs' attorney over alcoholic beverage company Sazerac Co. Inc.'s allegations the attorney sues without regard to the facts and law, saying the complaint "was not entirely baseless" and the suit was dropped within a "safe harbor" period under civil procedure rules.

  • March 28, 2024

    NLRB Gets 1st Backing Of Starbucks Order In Circuit Court

    A split D.C. Circuit panel on Thursday enforced a National Labor Relations Board order finding Starbucks violated federal labor law by barring a worker from passing out union pins, marking the first time a federal appeals court has weighed in on a board decision against the coffee giant.

  • March 28, 2024

    Calif. Looks To Sink Chamber's Climate Disclosure Challenge

    The state of California says a challenge by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups to its recently enacted corporate climate disclosure laws should be tossed, arguing the groups cannot sue since enforcement of the law has not begun and the groups cannot plead an injury.

  • March 28, 2024

    Hard Rock Cafe Workers Score Conditional Cert. In Tip Suit

    A Georgia federal judge has granted conditional class certification to a group of Hard Rock Cafe servers alleging the company forfeited its right to pay servers subminimum tipped wages by compelling them to perform excessive untipped work and not telling them a tip credit would be taken against their wages.

  • March 28, 2024

    Claims Trimmed In Trader Joe's Chocolate Heavy Metals Suit

    A California judge has dismissed five out of nine claims in a consolidated complaint alleging that Trader Joe's Co. misled consumers by failing to disclose that its dark chocolate bars contain heavy metals, finding that the complaint doesn't do enough to allege that the amounts are actually dangerous.

  • March 28, 2024

    WeightWatchers Adds 23andMe's Ex-Legal Head As Its GC

    WW International Inc., formerly known as WeightWatchers, hired Jacqueline Cooke from ancestry-tracking company 23andMe this month as its new general counsel and corporate secretary.

  • March 28, 2024

    Fruit Grower Cleared To Leave Ch. 11 With $43M Exit Loan

    California stone fruit producer Prima Wawona is set to wind down its packing and distribution division, hand ownership of the reorganized company to creditors and leave bankruptcy after a Delaware bankruptcy judge agreed to approve its Chapter 11 plan Thursday.

  • March 28, 2024

    Faruqi & Faruqi Beats 5 Firms To Lead NewAge Investor Suit

    A Colorado district judge has selected two clients of Faruqi & Faruqi LLP to lead an investor class action accusing the executives and directors of wellness company NewAge Inc. of securities fraud, saying the plaintiff with an even bigger financial interest is unfit for appointment because he hid his "troubling" background.

Expert Analysis

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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Food & Beverage archive.
Hello! I'm Law360's automated support bot.

How can I help you today?

For example, you can type:
  • I forgot my password
  • I took a free trial but didn't get a verification email
  • How do I sign up for a newsletter?
Ask a question!