Food & Beverage

  • August 18, 2026

    DEA Blasts Marijuana Foes' Objections To Rescheduling

    The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration on Monday told an administrative law judge that federal restrictions should be loosened on marijuana and that opponents of cannabis reform brought a meritless challenge to health regulators' assessment of the drug's medical use.

  • August 18, 2026

    Infant Formula MDL Judge Laments Ongoing 'Trial-By-Video'

    The Illinois federal judge handling multidistrict litigation claiming Mead Johnson or Abbott Laboratories infant formula led to a severe gut illness in premature babies deemed it "disappointing" that testimony in an ongoing bellwether trial largely consists of video depositions, warning she won't conduct another unless most witnesses will take the stand in Chicago.

  • August 17, 2026

    Albertsons Judge Hears $44B Opioid Abatement Plan In Wash.

    Addressing harm caused by prescription opioid abuse in Washington would cost nearly $44.4 billion, an expert testified Monday during a bench trial in the state's case accusing Albertsons and its Safeway subsidiary of exacerbating Washington's overdose crisis by failing to curb the flow of controlled substances.

  • August 17, 2026

    DOI Settles 'Peanuts' Music Infringement Claim For $20K

    The U.S. Department of the Interior has agreed to pay $20,000 to the steward of the "Peanuts" television and film music catalog to put to rest claims that the government used music from "A Charlie Brown Christmas" on its social media pages without permission, according to an announcement made Monday.

  • August 17, 2026

    Mead Johnson Pushed Formula Knowing Risks, Jury Told

    Mead Johnson knew its infant formula posed an increased risk of a devastating gut disease to premature babies but "muddied the waters" instead of sounding a clear warning, leaving doctors without crucial information while caring for an infant who ultimately died from the illness, his mother's attorney told an Illinois federal jury Monday.

  • August 17, 2026

    Happy Egg Breaks 'Pasture Raised' False Ad Class At 9th Circ.

    The Ninth Circuit on Monday threw out class certification of California and New York consumers accusing the company behind the Happy Egg brand of deceptively labeling egg cartons with promises that its hens are "pasture raised on over 8 acres."

  • August 17, 2026

    9th Circ. Says Statute Mandates Central Valley Contract Switch

    A Ninth Circuit panel on Monday ruled the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation had no duty to complete environmental reviews before it converted dozens of water service contracts for the Central Valley Project in California in a process intended to help fund storage improvements.

  • August 17, 2026

    Virginia Hemp Cos. Lose Bid To Halt THC Cap

    A Virginia federal judge has refused to block a state law placing new potency caps on THC products, ruling that the hemp businesses opposing the law are unlikely to succeed with claims that the law constitutes an unconstitutional taking.

  • August 17, 2026

    Companies Underpaid Staffing Agency Workers, Suit Alleges

    A former warehouse worker from a staffing agency has sued Misfits Market and the agency in Maryland federal court, alleging the companies continued paying workers from the agency $15 per hour after Howard County raised its minimum wage to $16 last year, shortchanging at least 70 workers.

  • August 17, 2026

    Papa John's Workers Get Approval For $5M No-Poach Deal

    A Kentucky federal court gave its final approval for a $5 million settlement in a case over Papa John's past use of "no-poach" provisions in its franchise agreements, sweeping aside previous concerns as well as objections raised by a handful of workers.

  • August 17, 2026

    Protein Shake Maker Investors Sue Over Troubled Acquisition

    Consumer packaged health foods company Simply Good Foods has been hit with a class action in New York federal court over its $280 million acquisition of a plant-based protein shake company, whose integration was an "abject failure," resulting in a $200 million impairment on the acquired company's assets and a stock price drop.

  • August 17, 2026

    Rebel Creamery Hits Ch. 11 After $24M Loss To Van Leeuwen

    Ice cream company Rebel Creamery has filed for Chapter 11 protection in Utah bankruptcy court with about $24 million in debt, one month after losing a trademark lawsuit brought by rival Van Leeuwen.

  • August 14, 2026

    Smithfield Says It Shouldn't Face Jury In EEOC's Age Bias Suit

    Smithfield Foods challenged a Georgia magistrate judge's report recommending the meat processor face the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's suit claiming it fired a senior sales employee due to her age, arguing Thursday the report cannot try to dictate how the company should've saved costs amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

  • August 14, 2026

    Hemp Cos. Ask 6th Circ. To Keep Ohio Law On Pause

    Hemp manufacturers and sellers have asked the Sixth Circuit to uphold a lower court's ruling that paused the enforcement of an Ohio law that reclassified their products as marijuana.

  • August 14, 2026

    Corteva To Pay $3.1M In Ark. AG's Pesticides Antitrust Suit

    Corteva has agreed to pay $3.1 million to settle the Arkansas attorney general's antitrust suit accusing the pesticide maker of using anticompetitive rebates that amount to exclusive agreements to suppress generics competition, according to a preliminary approval motion filed in federal court on Thursday.

  • August 14, 2026

    Utz, Condiment Co. Sued Over Avocado Oil Claims

    Snack food company Utz Brands Inc. and a condiment company whose products are based on avocado oil were hit with two separate proposed class actions this past week in New York and California federal courts alleging that their foods are made with cheaper vegetable oil, citing the same recent study.

  • August 14, 2026

    Cuisinart Sued Over Exploding Pressure Cookers

    Two Connecticut women are suing Cuisinart and its parent company Conair LLC in state court, alleging that they were injured by pressure cookers that had a defect, causing the contents to explode out onto them.

  • August 14, 2026

    Promethean, Emerging Launch $300M Hospitality Tech Fund

    Hospitality investment and operating platform Emerging Fund Management LLC and private equity firm Promethean Investments LLP announced Friday that they are teaming up as equal co-sponsors of a fund focused on technology underlying hospitality and experiential entertainment.

  • August 14, 2026

    Jones Day-Led Saputo Selling UK Dairy Biz For $1.3B

    Jones Day-advised Saputo Inc. said Friday that it has agreed to sell its U.K. dairy business to France's Lactalis at an enterprise value of about £988 million ($1.3 billion), as the Canadian dairy processor said it is looking to streamline global operations and free up capital.

  • August 14, 2026

    First Baby Formula MDL Trial To Kick Off In Chicago

    An Illinois federal jury will soon be asked to decide whether Mead Johnson baby formula causes a serious abdominal condition in premature infants, as the first case to make it to trial in multidistrict litigation is set to begin with the parties' opening statements on Monday.

  • August 13, 2026

    7th Circ. Won't Revive Popcorn Shop Worker's Retaliation Suit

    The Seventh Circuit on Thursday refused to resurrect a retaliation suit filed by a former assistant research and development director for Chicago's Garrett Popcorn Shops, finding she failed to back up her argument that a jury erred in siding with her former employer.

  • August 13, 2026

    Albertsons Didn't Flag Suspicious Opioid Orders, Judge Hears

    Albertsons failed to report its pharmacies' unusual opioid orders to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration despite explicit instructions from the agency to do so, the retailer's vice president of pharmacy compliance testified Thursday during a bench trial in Washington's lawsuit accusing the chain of exacerbating the state's opioid epidemic.

  • August 13, 2026

    Baby Food Cos. Near Ax Of Some ADHD, Autism Claims

    A California federal judge indicated on Thursday that she would grant summary judgment to a significant swath of claims in multidistrict litigation alleging lead and arsenic in baby food from Gerber, Beech-Nut, Walmart and others contributed to children's ADHD and autism, which follows her previous ruling that the plaintiffs' causation evidence was too unreliable.

  • August 13, 2026

    Quinoa Product Has Barely Any Quinoa, Suit Says

    Seeds of Change, an organic brand under food giant Mars Inc., is accused of tricking customers into paying inflated prices for an organic quinoa product when the item in question doesn't really have much edible seed in it, in a proposed class action filed Wednesday in California federal court.

  • August 13, 2026

    Baker Botts Atty Cleared Of Defamation In Inventor's Suit

    A Florida federal judge on Thursday tossed a defamation claim against a Baker Botts LLP patent attorney after agreeing with a magistrate judge's conclusion that an inventor had not shown that the lawyer's comments to a reporter were defamatory.

Expert Analysis

  • How Justices' TPS Ruling Affects Workforce Planning

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent holding in Mullin v. Doe that courts lack jurisdiction to review temporary protected status determinations greenlights the end of TPS for thousands of Syrian and Haitian nationals, and means employers must reevaluate TPS-designees' employability while avoiding discriminatory document practices, says attorney Richard Herman.

  • How Cos. Can Prep For Ultra-Processed Food Legal Risks

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    A wave of litigation and government scrutiny directed against ultra-processed foods is now gaining momentum, following patterns seen previously in other industries — and food companies that recognize those patterns early will be better positioned to manage the increasing risks, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • Series

    Bass Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Landing a trophy striped bass and closing a big deal both require cultivating the patience to finesse — not force — your way to desired outcomes, changing course when your old approach isn’t working and learning from the ones that got away, says Jon Ruiss at Alston & Bird.

  • Roundup

    The Most Talked-About Supreme Court Decisions Of 2026

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    This term, 11 U.S. Supreme Court decisions quickly became hot topics among Law360's guest writers.

  • What Ex-CFPB Head's Calif. Role May Foretell For Oversight

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    California Gov. Gavin Newsom's selection of former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra to lead a new consumer agency signals tougher state financial services oversight, especially for fintechs, as well as heightened enforcement activity and larger penalties, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • Immigration Ruling Maps Alternative To Universal Injunctions

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    A Rhode Island federal court's decision in Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island v. USCIS vacating policies that froze key immigration adjudications for nationals of 39 countries, and paused asylum applications altogether, suggests how practitioners might press for the Administrative Procedure Act's bad faith exception to record review and seek vacatur as a viable alternative to universal injunctions, says Kemal Hepsen at Mandamus Lawyers.

  • Lessons From EEOC Suit Over Coca-Cola Women-Only Event

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    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's recent lawsuit alleging that Coca-Cola Northeast violated federal law by having a professional development retreat for female employees demonstrates that the EEOC is scrutinizing DEI-related practices with unprecedented intensity, so even the most well-intentioned programs may be challenged, say attorneys at Venable.

  • High Court's FCC Fine Ruling Reframes Agency Enforcement

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Federal Communications Commission v. AT&T sweeps aside uncertainty about what kinds of regulatory enforcement trigger a Seventh Amendment right, say attorneys at Squire Patton.

  • After Durnell, Connecting Science And Causation Will Be Key

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's June 25 decision in Monsanto v. Durnell narrowed label-based failure-to-warn claims — meaning that going forward, viable theories will depend even more on whether experts can reliably connect scientific evidence to the causal proposition the law requires, says Alex Smolak at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar.

  • Series

    Choral Singing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Singing in the New York City Bar Chorus — a hobby partly inspired by the late U.S. District Judge Richard Owen, who infused my clerkship year with opera music — has improved my legal career by refining my abilities to listen, exude confidence and develop emotional intelligence, says Bonnie Baker at Friedman Kaplan.

  • Attorney Mental Health Is An Ethical Obligation In The AI Era

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    As attorneys cope with the increasing unpredictability that artificial intelligence and constant policy changes have created, particularly in practice areas where they carry the emotional weight of clients’ most consequential life events, otherwise soft discussions about self-care are a matter of professional competence, says attorney Jack Jrada.

  • Series

    Power To The Paralegals: Burnout As A Structural Problem

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    Law firm leadership can best retain their paralegals not by encouraging self-care, but by seeking top-down structural solutions for the quiet proliferation of responsibilities and the vicarious exposure to client trauma that particularly drive burnout in this vital role, says Erika Sneeringer at Brockstedt Mandalas.

  • Fed. Circ. In May: Being Precise About 'About'

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    The Federal Circuit's decision in Enviro Tech v. Safe Foods last month illustrates the danger in attempting to expand claim scope with words of approximation, potentially causing claims to be invalid for lack of definiteness, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.

  • Ill. Law Firm MSO Bill Clashes With Court Power, Ethics Rules

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    An Illinois bill prohibiting law firms from certain business arrangements with management service organizations, sent to the governor for signature last week, encroaches upon the courts' constitutional powers and goes beyond the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct in regulating investment in law-related services, says Matthew O’Hara at Smith Gambrell.

  • Opinion

    State Courts Must Be Gatekeepers Of Expert Testimony

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    Based on my experience in the state judiciary, emulating federal courts' role as gatekeepers of expert witness testimony would help state court judges maintain the appearance of impartiality and assist juries, thus enhancing the overall confidence people have in their justice system, says Lorie Gildea at Greenberg Traurig.

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