Food & Beverage

  • June 26, 2025

    Conn. Firm Says Judge 'Overlooked' Key Case In Dismissal

    Connecticut employment law firm Hayber McKenna & Dinsmore LLC has asked a state judge to reconsider her decision to trim abuse of process claims from its suit against attorneys for restaurants who sued the firm over underlying labor class actions, saying she "must have overlooked" important state Supreme Court precedent.

  • June 25, 2025

    OTC Pills Are Opioid In Disguise, Consumer Says

    A Georgia company that produces an over-the-counter supplement branded as "ZaZa" was hit with a proposed class action Tuesday from a consumer who said the supplement's active ingredient is a highly addictive substance with effects comparable to opioids, which the manufacturer has hidden from consumers.

  • June 25, 2025

    DOL Urges Judge Not To Block H-2A Prevailing Wage Rules

    The U.S. Department of Labor defended its 2022 H-2A prevailing wage regulations against claims from a farmworker union in Washington federal court, arguing the agency's rules are lawful and must be upheld.

  • June 25, 2025

    EU Probing Mars' $36B Deal For Pringles-Maker Kellanova

    European competition enforcers said Wednesday they are investigating snack food and candy giant Mars Inc.'s planned $35.9 billion purchase of Cheez-It and Pringles maker Kellanova over concerns the combined company would have too much negotiating power with retailers.

  • June 25, 2025

    3rd Circ. Upholds $3.2M Atty Fee In Wawa Breach Suit

    The Third Circuit on Wednesday upheld a $3.2 million fee award for Berger Montague and Fine Kaplan & Black in the settlement for consumers affected by a 2019 Wawa data breach, ruling Wednesday that the district court judge correctly found no improper "side deals" or collusion at class members' expense.

  • June 25, 2025

    Albertsons Reaches Terms To End Action Over Cereal Bars

    Grocery chain Albertsons has resolved a proposed class action alleging its Signature Select Fruit & Grain cereal bars were deceptively labeled "Naturally Flavored" while containing an artificial ingredient derived from petroleum.

  • June 25, 2025

    Foxwoods Restaurant Wage Suit Deal Gets Initial Nod

    A Connecticut state court judge has given her preliminary approval to a $425,000 settlement between Sugar Factory American Brasserie, a restaurant at the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation's Foxwoods Resort Casino, and a class of 55 servers who claim their pay was shorted for several years.

  • June 25, 2025

    Farm Products Co. Sues Ex-Owner Over Trade Secrets Theft

    Agricultural products company AgXplore sued a former owner claiming that after a $100 million buyout he continued to compete with the company and misappropriated its trade secrets.

  • June 24, 2025

    FTC Commish Says Enforcement Is The Way, Not Regulation

    The newest member of the Federal Trade Commission was preaching less regulation and increased enforcement as the path toward a more just and competitive business landscape in the United States at a Senate antitrust subcommittee hearing Tuesday afternoon.

  • June 24, 2025

    Whole Foods Staffers Seek Greenlight For $2M 401(k) Fee Deal

    Whole Foods workers urged a Texas federal court on Tuesday to preliminarily approve a $2 million deal they hammered out with the Amazon-owned grocery chain to end their putative class action alleging excessive fees were charged to their employee 401(k) retirement plan in violation of federal benefits law.

  • June 24, 2025

    State AGs Sue Trump Admin To Stop Billions In Grant Cuts

    A coalition of 21 states and the District of Columbia filed suit Tuesday in Massachusetts federal court, accusing the Trump administration of unlawfully using a single clause "buried in federal regulations" to nix billions of dollars in federal grant funding to the states.

  • June 24, 2025

    5th Circ. Says EPA Ignored Cos. To Push Efficiency Testing Rule

    The Fifth Circuit has thrown out part of a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule for determining measures for fuel efficiency, finding Tuesday that the agency used a faulty methodology to justify tightening standards and outright ignored comments when creating the rule.

  • June 24, 2025

    Krispy Kreme Cyberattack Sparks Class Claims Blitz

    A former Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corp. employee has filed a proposed class action in North Carolina federal court claiming the chain failed to properly protect its current and former workers' personal information before a November data breach, one of many suits brought against it over that same cyberattack.

  • June 24, 2025

    1st Circ. Undoes Inflated Biz Interruption Award For Drink Co.

    A Puerto Rico federal court wrongly maintained an award against an insurer that exceeded a beverage manufacturer's actual business income and extra expenses losses and was not supported by evidence at trial, the First Circuit held, reducing the total award from $1 million to approximately $686,000.

  • June 24, 2025

    Food Co. Escapes Workers' Wage Theft Suit

    Two former employees brought their lawsuit accusing a food services company of using a faulty timekeeping system that shortchanged their wages too late, a New Jersey federal judge ruled, granting the company's bid to throw out the proposed class action.

  • June 24, 2025

    UK Farmers Seek Judicial Review Of Inheritance Tax Changes

    A group of farmers and family-owned businesses is taking the U.K. government to court over changes to the inheritance tax to remove exemptions for agricultural land, the firm representing the farmers announced Tuesday.

  • June 23, 2025

    Drink Co., Founder To Pay SEC $1.1M Over Faux Rihanna Deal

    A beverage company and its founder have agreed to give the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over $1.1 million as part of a resolution of claims they misused investor funds and inaccurately suggested they were poised to collaborate with pop star Rihanna.

  • June 23, 2025

    Ex-CEO Of CBD Water Co. Must Face Pump-And-Dump Case

    The former CEO of a cannabis-infused water company and a stockholder must face all claims made in a federal indictment accusing them of artificially inflating company shares so they could sell them for a profit, an Ohio federal judge ruled, saying the government has properly alleged a single conspiracy.

  • June 23, 2025

    Kardashian Chef Offered Adderall Instead Of Breaks, Suit Says

    A chef who works with celebrities including the Kardashian family refused to pay overtime despite requiring employees to work 12-hour days and offered Adderall instead of breaks if workers complained they were tired, a former assistant told a California state court.

  • June 23, 2025

    Texas Governor Vetoes Ban On Hemp-Derived THC Products

    Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has vetoed a bill that would have banned hemp-derived THC products, rebuking one of his lieutenant governor's policy priorities and delivering a win to the Lone Star State's hemp industry.

  • June 23, 2025

    DOL Suspends Biden-Era H-2A Farmworker Protection Rule

    The U.S. Department of Labor has put a Biden-era regulation protecting union-related activities for agricultural workers on seasonal H-2A visas on ice while litigation over the rule continues and the agency considers new rulemaking.

  • June 23, 2025

    Execs Nix Worker's ERISA Suit Over Food Co. Sale Side Deals

    A Wisconsin federal judge tossed a worker's suit claiming PDQ Food Stores executives and GreatBanc brokered millions in self-serving side payments when organizing the company's sale, finding her complaint devoid of detail that any of the payments were illegal.

  • June 23, 2025

    Conn. Firm's Claims Against Restaurant Attys Trimmed

    Connecticut employment law firm Hayber McKenna & Dinsmore LLC may advance vexatious litigation claims, but not abuse of process claims, against attorneys for several restaurants who previously accused the firm of violating state unfair trade practices laws to target potential clients, a state trial court judge has ruled.

  • June 23, 2025

    Gibson Dunn, Cleary Guide $1.77B C&S-SpartanNash Deal

    C&S Wholesale Grocers will acquire grocery distributor and retailer SpartanNash in a $1.77 billion all-cash deal, the companies said in a joint statement Monday, with Gibson Dunn and Cleary serving as legal counsel to the buyer and seller, respectively.

  • June 20, 2025

    Science Research Funding Cuts Blocked By Mass. Judge

    A Massachusetts federal judge Friday prohibited the Trump administration from cutting certain National Science Foundation research funding associated with facilities and administrative costs, ruling that the policy runs afoul of multiple laws and the government hasn't adequately explained its reasoning.

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    The BigLaw Settlements Are About Risk, Not Profit

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    The nine Am Law 100 firms that settled with the Trump administration likely did so because of the personal risk faced by equity partners in today's billion‑dollar national practices, enabled by an ethics rule primed for modernization, says Adam Forest at Scale.

  • Opinion

    Courts Must Revitalize Robust Claim Construction

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    Two Federal Circuit decisions from earlier this year illustrate the rarity of robust claim construction and the underused reverse doctrine of equivalents — a dual problem that prevents courts from clearly delineating and correctly cabining the scope of rights conferred by patent claims, say attorneys at Klarquist Sparkman.

  • Series

    Brazilian Jiujitsu Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Competing in Brazilian jiujitsu – often against opponents who are much larger and younger than me – has allowed me to develop a handful of useful skills that foster the resilience and adaptability necessary for a successful legal career, says Tina Dorr of Barnes & Thornburg.

  • FDA Commissioner Speech Suggests New Vision For Agency

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    In his first public remarks as U.S. Food and Drug Administration commissioner, Marty Makary outlined an ambitious framework for change centered around cultural restoration, scientific integrity, regulatory flexibility and selective modernization, and substantial enforcement shifts for the food and tobacco sectors, say attorneys at Arnall Golden.

  • Customs Fraud Enforcement In The Age Of Tariffs

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    In the wake of the Trump administration’s new approach toward tariffs, two recent Justice Department developments demonstrate aggressive customs fraud enforcement, with the DOJ emphasizing competitive harm to American businesses, and signaling that investigations will likely involve both civil and criminal enforcement tools, say attorneys at Bernstein Litowitz and London & Naor.

  • Series

    Power To The Paralegals: An Untapped Source For Biz Roles

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    Law firms looking to recruit legal business talent should consider turning to paralegals, who practice several key skills every day that prepare them to thrive in marketing and client development roles, says Vanessa Torres at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • Series

    Playing Poker Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Poker is a master class in psychology, risk management and strategic thinking, and I’m a better attorney because it has taught me to read my opponents, adapt when I’m dealt the unexpected and stay patient until I'm ready to reveal my hand, says Casey Kingsley at McCreadyLaw.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Becoming A Firmwide MVP

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    Though lawyers don't have a neat metric like baseball players for measuring the value they contribute to their organizations, the sooner new attorneys learn skills frequently skipped in law school — like networking, marketing, client development and case evaluation — the more valuable, and less replaceable, they will be, says Alex Barnett at DiCello Levitt.

  • Trade Secrets Would Likely See Court Protection From GenAI

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    The advent of generative artificial intelligence has given rise to debate about how this technology will affect intellectual property rights and trade secret protections in particular, but courts to date have protected owners when technological advances have facilitated new means for trade secret theft, say attorneys at Kilpatrick Townsend.

  • $38M Law Firm Settlement Highlights 'Unworthy Client' Perils

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    A recent settlement of claims against law firm Eckert Seamans for allegedly abetting a Ponzi scheme underscores the continuing threat of clients who seek to exploit their lawyers in perpetrating fraud, and the critical importance of preemptive measures to avoid these clients, say attorneys at Lockton Companies.

  • Series

    Teaching Business Law Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Teaching business law to college students has rekindled my sense of purpose as a lawyer — I am more mindful of the importance of the rule of law and the benefits of our common law system, which helps me maintain a clearer perspective on work, says David Feldman at Feldman Legal Advisors.

  • Deregulation Memo Presents Risks, Opportunities For Cos.

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    A recent Trump administration memo providing direction to agencies tasked with rescinding regulations under an earlier executive order — without undergoing the typical notice-and-review process — will likely create much uncertainty for businesses, though they may be able to engage with agencies to shape the regulatory agenda, say attorneys at Blank Rome.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Mastering Discovery

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    The discovery process and the rules that govern it are often absent from law school curricula, but developing a solid grasp of the particulars can give any new attorney a leg up in their practice, says Jordan Davies at Knowles Gallant.

  • Arbitral Ruling In EU Fisheries Clash Clarifies Post-Brexit Pact

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    The Permanent Court of Arbitration's recent ruling marks a pivotal moment in the evolving jurisprudence surrounding the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, concluded between the U.K. and the EU after Brexit, and sets an important precedent for interpretation and enforcement of trade and environment clauses in cross-border disputes, says Josep Galvez at 4-5 Gray's Inn.

  • Series

    Playing Guitar Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Being a lawyer not only requires logic and hard work, but also belief, emotion, situational awareness and lots of natural energy — playing guitar enhances all of these qualities, increasing my capacity to do my best work, says Kosta Stojilkovic at Wilkinson Stekloff.

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