Nestle Asks Justices To Review 'Sustainable' Cocoa Classes

By Lauren Berg

Nestle asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a divided Ninth Circuit decision upholding class certification of millions of consumers who bought chocolate labeled "sustainably sourced" in a lawsuit claiming the chocolate is produced through child labor and deforestation.

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Publix Sued Over Woman's Death From Eating Blueberries

By Y. Peter Kang

A Florida man whose wife died after allegedly consuming contaminated frozen blueberries has sued Publix Super Markets Inc. and a food distributor, alleging the companies sold a dangerous food product that caused a fatal infection.

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Bush Bros. Says Rival Chili Co. Copies 'Chili Magic' TM

By Gina Kim

Bush Brothers has filed a trademark infringement suit in Michigan federal court accusing competitor Magic Man Foods of copying Bush's "Chili Magic" mark and its distinctive trade dress by using a confusingly similar color scheme for similar canned chili bean products.

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Gundlach Bundschu Winery Seeks Ch. 11 With $39M Debt

By Ben Zigterman

Gundlach Bundschu Winery, which claims to be California's oldest continuously family-owned winery, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy relief Wednesday, as it seeks to restructure its more than $39 million in liabilities.

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Brief

Commerce Lifts China, Bahrain Aluminum Can Stock Duties

By Dylan Moroses

The U.S. Department of Commerce has revoked countervailing and antidumping duties imposed on aluminum can stock imported from China and Bahrain, according to final results of a changed circumstances review published in a notice filed Wednesday.

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Walmart Can't Nix Worker's $300K Retaliation Trial Win

By Grace Elletson

A Washington federal judge declined Wednesday to scrap a $300,000 trial win for a former Walmart employee who claimed she was fired for reporting that her manager failed to shut down sexual harassment, calling the jury's verdict fair amid evidence of her boss' unfair treatment.

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Illinois Swipe-Fee Ban Also Blocked For Federal Credit Unions

By Celeste Bott

An Illinois federal judge expanded an order blocking the state from enforcing its landmark ban on tax-and-tip swipe fees against most banks, ruling that an injunction she granted earlier this year extends to federal credit unions in light of a new federal rule that authorizes them to collect interchange fees.

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Liquor Distributor's Insurer Fights Coverage Of Worker's Suit

By Ben Adlin

Employers Mutual Casualty Co. filed suit in Washington federal court Wednesday seeking an order declaring that the insurer has no duty to defend or indemnify policyholder American Northwest Distributors Inc. against an ex-worker's proposed wage-and-hour class action.

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Colo. Smoke Shop Chain To Pay $152K Over Kratom Potency

By Jonathan Capriel

The Colorado Attorney General's Office reached a $152,000 settlement with two smoke shop owners, ending claims their retail chain sold kratom products exceeding the state's legal potency limit and violated labeling rules.

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Ex-NY County Top Official's 12-Year Sentence Cut To 10

By Pete Brush

A New York federal judge sentenced former Long Island politician Edward Mangano to 10 years for corruption Wednesday, trimming a 12-year term she handed him after the Second Circuit tossed a jury's finding that he committed bribery.

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Tracking Trends In State-Level Regulatory Enforcement

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.

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Opinion

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

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.

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Litigation Spending To Keep Climbing While Biz Risks Mount

By Ryan Boysen

Big companies will increase their litigation budgets yet again next year, as navigating legal risk is now an essential element of achieving strategic business goals, according to a new report.

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Seyfarth Failed To Guard Client Data From Hack, Suit Alleges

By Lauren Berg

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on Thursday was hit with a proposed class action in Illinois federal court accusing it of failing to protect its current and former clients' personal information after the Chicago-based law firm this month disclosed a recent data breach.

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PACER Experiences Outages Of Some Court Dockets

By Matt Perez

PACER, the online public repository of federal court documents, experienced technical errors on Wednesday and Thursday preventing some users from accessing certain court dockets.

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New Eastern La. Judge's 5th Circ. Bid Goes To Full Senate

By Courtney Bublé

U.S. District Judge Anna St. John of the Eastern District of Louisiana, who was confirmed to her current post in March, is one step closer to being elevated to the federal appeals bench.

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Fla. Judge To Get Reprimand For Remark On Shooting Attys

By Madison Arnold

The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday ordered a public reprimand of a state district court judge for "intemperate and caustic" comments about shooting attorneys during a hearing.

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Congressional Probes Raise Legal, 'Reputational' Risks

By Phillip Bantz

An array of companies and executives may face investigations over their dealings with the Trump administration if Democrats take control of Congress, raising the possibility that some may refuse to comply. But experts say holding out hope for a mass pardon or expecting the Justice Department not to pursue contempt charges is a risky bet.

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Analysis

5 Circuit Splits To Watch At The High Court

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court has been deciding fewer and fewer cases over the past three decades, with its caseload reaching a historic low just last term. While attorneys believe several factors have contributed to that trend, they say one of the most consequential is the court's apparent declining interest in resolving circuit splits. 

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Trump's Antitrust Pick Advances Amid Independence Worries

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump's pick to lead the antitrust division at the U.S. Department of Justice advanced to the Senate floor on Thursday, despite Democratic concerns about agency independence.

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Sen. Hyde-Smith's Opponent Seeks Blue-Slip Transparency

By Courtney Bublé

Four years ago, Scott Colom — the son of the first African American elected to the chancery bench in her region of Mississippi — was nominated for a federal judgeship. Now he's running for Senate against the senator who blocked his confirmation.

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Ed. Dept. Committee Sidesteps ABA Accreditation Issue

By Ryan Boysen

A key U.S. Department of Education committee on Thursday declined to weigh in on whether an American Bar Association council should remain a federally recognized accreditor of law schools, a day after the panel deadlocked on different proposals over the hot-button issue.

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