Food & Beverage

  • October 29, 2026

    Importer, NJ Distributor End Suit Over Stealing Grocery Biz

    A distributor has agreed to drop its lawsuit alleging a Korean food importer purposefully mischaracterized why it was ending the parties' relationship in order to gain direct access to a popular grocery chain, according to a filing in New Jersey federal court.

  • October 29, 2026

    9th Circ. Drops Speech Holding In Seattle Gig Worker Ruling

    The Ninth Circuit on Thursday withdrew its earlier finding that Seattle's protections for app-based delivery workers don't regulate speech, replacing it with a narrower ruling that assumes the law involves speech but still passes First Amendment scrutiny.

  • October 29, 2026

    Uber, Amazon, Instacart Fight NYC Courier Deactivation Law

    Uber, Amazon and Instacart have accused New York City of overstepping by enacting a law prohibiting them from "deactivating" delivery couriers without formal notice and investigation, claiming in a new federal lawsuit that the regulation unconstitutionally interferes with their contractual rights.

  • October 29, 2026

    FTC, States Allege Toast Trapped Restaurants With Fees

    The Federal Trade Commission and eight states sued Toast Inc. on Thursday, accusing the restaurant software company of saddling restaurants with hidden fees, failing to provide promised customer support and making it difficult to cancel its services.

  • October 29, 2026

    Meat Plant Workers Say DOJ's Wrong On Wage-Fixing Deals

    Beef and pork plant workers seeking final approval for $200 million in wage-fixing settlements reached with major meat processors told a Colorado federal court the U.S. Department of Justice is raising concerns about conduct that stopped years ago.

  • October 29, 2026

    Canada, UAE Sign Economic Partnership Agreement

    Canada and the United Arab Emirates have reached an agreement on a trade deal that is expected to double bilateral trade between the countries, up to CA$7 billion ($5 billion) annually, the Canadian government said, lauding the agreement as being reached in "record time."

  • October 29, 2026

    CMA Starts Probe Into Meat Packer ABP's Acquisition Deal

    Britain's antitrust watchdog said Thursday it is launching an inquiry into meat supplier ABP Food Group's completed acquisition of an indirect minority stake in the owner of Dovecote Park, a Yorkshire-based beef processor.

  • October 29, 2026

    EU Pushes China For More Fair Trade Commitments

    The European Parliament's Committee on International Trade spent a three-day trip to China pushing for an expansion of a trade framework beyond a recently reached mutual understanding on hybrid vehicles, among other concerns, the committee said Thursday.

  • October 29, 2026

    EU Head Affirms Ties With Canada As Member Talks Open

    European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday reaffirmed the European Union's commitment to strengthening its ties with Canada at the opening of a summit to consider whether to adopt Canada as the EU's first-ever associate member.

  • October 29, 2026

    3 Firms Steer $17B DoorDash-Instacart Grocery Delivery Deal

    DoorDash Inc. said Thursday it has agreed to acquire Instacart for an equity value of approximately $17 billion, with Latham & Watkins LLP advising DoorDash and Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP and Cooley LLP representing Instacart. 

  • October 28, 2026

    Product Liability's Regulatory & Legislative Recap So Far

    Over the summer and early fall, lawmakers proposed measures aimed at putting safeguards around the rapidly growing industry of artificial intelligence, as public concerns over its safety climb in tandem. The new nominee to head the U.S. Food and Drug Administration also faced sharp queries over her views on vaccines and birth control.

  • October 28, 2026

    Unilever May Get Suit By Ex-Ben & Jerry's Chair Moved To NY

    A California federal judge said on Wednesday that he is unlikely to toss claims that Unilever defamed Ben & Jerry's then-board chair to justify ousting her over her support for Palestinians, and indicated he is inclined to transfer the case to New York.

  • October 28, 2026

    FTC Probes Delta, Uber, Others Over Data-Driven Pricing

    The Federal Trade Commission is pressing Delta, Uber, Target and a half-dozen other companies to detail how they're using personal data to set individualized pricing for consumers and compensation for workers, marking the latest escalation of the agency's growing scrutiny of the increasingly prominent business practice.

  • October 28, 2026

    9th Circ. Judge Calls Out Whole Foods For Standing Flip-Flop

    A Ninth Circuit judge confronted Whole Foods on Wednesday for reversing its position in a proposed class action alleging failure to include wage information in job listings, pressing its counsel on why an appellate panel should accept its new standing argument and let the case proceed in federal court instead of Washington state court.

  • October 28, 2026

    Seattle Restaurant Owner Gets 13 Months In $1.4M Tax Case

    A Seattle restaurant owner was sentenced to 13 months in prison and three years of supervised release for willfully failing to pay more than $1.4 million in unemployment, Social Security and Medicare taxes, some of which he withheld from employees' paychecks, federal prosecutors said.

  • October 28, 2026

    Meatpacking Cos. Can't Escape Haitian Workers' Bias Suit

    Two meatpacking companies must face a proposed class action alleging they lured Haitian workers to Colorado with false promises and subjected them to harsh working conditions because of their race, with a federal judge saying Wednesday that the bid to toss the case is based mostly on technicalities.

  • October 28, 2026

    Trian-Led Investment Group Offers $1.4B To Acquire Wendy's

    A Trian Fund Management-led group of investors has proposed acquiring Wendy's for about $1.4 billion in a transaction that would take the fast-food chain private, a Wednesday securities filing shows.

  • October 28, 2026

    Restaurant Investor Says Divorce Left Repayment In Dispute

    A former employee and investor in a Pittsburgh-area chain of Mexican restaurants says he wants to be repaid after his retirement, but the former co-owners' divorce has left each party claiming the other owes him the money, according to a lawsuit the investor filed in Pennsylvania state court Tuesday.

  • October 28, 2026

    India, Mexico Take Step Toward Preferential Trade Deal

    Trade representatives from India and Mexico kicked off negotiations for a preferential trade agreement, the Indian government announced Wednesday, saying the hope is to increase trade between the countries.

  • October 28, 2026

    Netherlands Blocks Unilever Deal To Unload Dutch Brand

    The Dutch competition regulator has decided to block the sale by multinational consumer goods giant Unilever PLC of Dutch brand Unox to Zwanenberg, almost two years after the deal was announced.

  • October 27, 2026

    Mallet Wins Injunction On Release Of Baking Product Secrets

    Baking product company Mallet & Co. was granted a permanent injunction Tuesday to stop a rival from accessing or disclosing its trade secrets after a federal judge ordered the rival to pay $11.4 million in legal bills for sharing copied goods in publicly accessible court documents.

  • October 27, 2026

    Celsius Sued Over Claims That Energy Drink Burns Fat

    The makers of Celsius energy drink falsely imply that their beverage "burns body fat" while hiding in "tiny, hidden text" on the cans' reverse side qualifiers, and largely concealed the fact that their marketing claims stem from a company-funded study, according to a federal lawsuit that accuses the company of "healthwashing."

  • October 27, 2026

    5-Hour Energy Sellers Ask 9th Circ. To Revive Antitrust Fight

    Family-owned wholesalers urged the Ninth Circuit to revive antitrust claims Tuesday alleging 5-Hour Energy violated price discrimination law by providing Costco with disproportionate promotional support, arguing the court wrongly applied an "extremely narrow view of antitrust injury."

  • October 27, 2026

    Starbucks Coffee Labels Draw Court's Scrutiny In Buyers' Suit

    A Washington federal judge pushed back Tuesday against Starbucks' bid to dismiss a deceptive labeling lawsuit, suggesting the coffee giant's allegedly misleading commitment to 100% ethical sourcing — paired with statements on the back of coffee bags referencing supplier certification standards — was potentially enough to dupe an ordinary consumer.

  • October 27, 2026

    IHOP Franchisee Settles Ex-Employee's Disability Bias Suit

    The former training and development director for an IHOP franchisee has wrapped up his lawsuit alleging he was fired for missing work after his manager promised to tell human resources he'd entered an alcohol treatment program, according to a filing Tuesday in Georgia federal court.

Expert Analysis

  • Mapping The Shifting Landscape Of Algorithmic Pricing Laws

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    As state legislative activity and federal developments abound in algorithmic pricing practice, companies steering through this regulatory patchwork should consider a number of key issues, including status, use and exemptions, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Testing AI's Promise For Large-Scale Document Review

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    Our document-review comparison of attorneys' responsiveness and issue coding decisions versus predictions generated by artificial intelligence across 1,600 documents suggests that these tools can offer a reasonable and reliable basis for improved discovery workflows, provided lawyers understand where guardrails are needed, say attorneys at Redgrave.

  • AI Meeting Recaps Pose New Discovery And Privilege Risks

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    The New York City Bar Association’s recent ethics opinion, cautioning attorneys not to record nonclient conversations with artificial intelligence tools, reflects an emerging view that AI meeting recaps are now a distinct business record category, meaning counsel should set meeting-level controls and apply framework-level updates, says William Wright at Faegre Drinker.

  • FDA Bill Shows Risk Of Inexact Statute Text, Post-Loper Bright

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    A recent House bill to amend the Food and Drug Administration's drug preclusion framework reveals the increased importance of precision when drafting statutory rules in a post-Loper Bright landscape, as several minor errors in the text could lock in unintended results that will be difficult to repeal, say attorneys at Venable.

  • Del. Ruling Tests Limits Of Conflicted-Deal Safe Harbors

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    In Dodiya v. Franklin, the Delaware Court of Chancery recently decided that new legal protections for corporate transactions involving conflicts of interest did not apply, reminding boards that the Section 144 safe harbors amended last year reward careful management and accurate disclosure of known conflicts, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • An Economic Approach Could Curb Broad Antitrust Classes

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    A Minnesota federal court's recent certification decision reflects a familiar antitrust pattern of inefficiently broad class certification even when the alleged conspiracy's effect is likely to vary significantly across buyers, but utilizing an economic interpretation of predominance would enhance efficiency by leading to narrower classes, says Sean Durkin at Charles River.

  • Series

    Playing Bid Whist Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    As a child, I viewed bid whist as a family tradition and a source of friendly card game competition, but as a lawyer, I see it as a tool that has helped me cultivate skills like communication, teamwork, risk assessment and composure, says Keyonn Pope at Riley Safer.

  • Tracking Trends In State-Level Regulatory Enforcement

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    State-level enforcement now increasingly involves antitrust, artificial intelligence and data privacy issues, and the key for organizations to reducing risk is having the ability to respond across governance, public affairs, discovery and remediation in multiple states simultaneously, say consultants at FTI Consulting.

  • Opinion

    Calif. Bill Goes Too Far In Trying To Regulate Attorney AI Use

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    California’s first-in-the-nation act regulating how attorneys and arbitrators use generative artificial intelligence will likely soon become law, but read broadly, the provisions may dissuade lawyers from employing AI at all, thereby depriving them of key work tools, says Joshua Wurtzel at Schlam Stone.

  • How Bifurcation And Verdict Forms Can Sway Jury Outcomes

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    The bifurcated trial structure used in a Nevada personal injury case — where the jury recently awarded the plaintiff more than $56 million — highlights a strategic option that litigators often overlook and raises considerations about the potential advantage of carefully assembled verdict forms, says litigation consultant Clint Townson.

  • 1 Year And $1B Later, Trade Fraud Remains Key Priority

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    The Trade Fraud Task Force's success obtaining major settlements in its first year, along with the Justice Department signaling long-term commitment to customs enforcement, shows that importers should plan to make global supply chain oversight a board-level priority for years to come, says Kimberly Paschall at Riley Safer.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Cultivating Good Judgment

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    Law schools generally overlook the role that solid judgment skills play in real-world practice, but attorneys can bridge the gap by strengthening their abilities to assess a case’s strengths and weaknesses, develop and execute effective strategies, and provide clear recommendations to clients, says Manny Caixeiro at Venable.

  • FTC Focus: A Shift In The Pricing Disclosure Terrain

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    Recent state and Federal Trade Commission developments spotlight materially different ways in which personalized pricing might be addressed, which could result in an increasingly fragmented regulatory landscape in which businesses face differing disclosure obligations and substantive restrictions depending upon the jurisdiction, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • Attorneys Using AI May Have Ethical Duty To Redact Docs

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    The trajectory of legal ethics guidance in recent years strongly suggests that as redaction technology becomes more accessible, the failure to use it when uploading highly confidential materials into artificial intelligence tools will become increasingly difficult to defend as reasonable, say attorneys at Lewis Brisbois.

  • Compliance Lessons From Agriculture Co. Mexican Bribe DPA

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    Agricultural company Scoular’s recently announced deferred prosecution agreement over alleged Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations at the U.S.-Mexico border reinforces the U.S. Department of Justice’s focus on cartels, and companies must accordingly ensure they address risks associated with the use of customs brokers, says Adam Safwat at Foley Hoag.

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