Mead Johnson Wins New Trial Over $60M NEC Formula Verdict

By Celeste Bott

An Illinois appellate panel has thrown out a $60 million jury verdict awarded to a mother claiming Mead Johnson's infant formula caused her premature baby to develop a fatal gut disease, saying the trial court erred in finding the company owed a duty to warn the mother and not just the infant's doctors, and allowing prejudicial evidence about Mead Johnson's profits.

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Dannon Says Chobani's Protein Yogurt Claims Skirt FDA Reg

By Bonnie Eslinger

The U.S. parent company for Dannon yogurt hit rival Chobani with a false advertising and unfair competition lawsuit in New York federal court Monday, claiming Chobani is violating U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations to make it seem like its yogurt has more grams of protein per serving.

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4th Circ. Nixes Class In Anheuser-Busch OT Suit

By Katherine Smith

The Fourth Circuit on Monday vacated an order certifying a class of Anheuser-Busch employees in a lawsuit alleging the brewing giant failed to pay the workers for pre- and post-shift work, finding that the class is currently too broad to justify certification.

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NLRB Dings A-B Arbitration Enforcement After Court Remand

By Braden Campbell

Anheuser-Busch violated federal labor law by trying to make a fired worker arbitrate his race bias claim in conflict with his collective bargaining agreement, the National Labor Relations Board said in a reversal following an Eleventh Circuit remand.

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Home Depot, Macy's, Others Targeted In Patent Suits

By Elliot Weld

Retailers Home Depot and Macy's, and restaurant chains Flower Child and Shake Shack were among several large companies sued in Texas federal court over accusations that they infringed a set of patents covering card-reading electronics components.

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Corteva Says No To FTC Trial Date In Pesticides Case

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

Corteva Inc. has asked a North Carolina federal court to deny the Federal Trade Commission's request to set a trial date in its case against it and Syngenta Corp. or hold its decision until after ruling on its request for summary judgment.

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Kratom Interests Urge 10th Circ. To Halt Utah Ban

By Jonathan Capriel

A kratom drink maker is asking the Tenth Circuit to block Utah's law reining in psychoactive products derived from kratom leaf, arguing that the statute's ban on mixing kratom with any "nonkratom substance" is preempted by federal law.

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Alaska Must Pay Tribes $1.8M In Fishing Rights Fee Fight

By Crystal Owens

A district court judge has awarded Indigenous corporations $1.8 million in attorney fees in a dispute over rules regulating subsistence fishing in the Kuskokwim River, saying Alaska waited too long to argue a sovereign immunity defense in the case that ended in the U.S. Supreme Court.

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Restaurant Chain Manager Accused Of Pocketing Vendor Rebates

By Jarek Rutz

A company that manages the Medium Rare restaurant chain has sued one of its own co-managers in the Delaware Chancery Court, accusing him of secretly diverting vendor rebate payments to himself, misrepresenting the company's ownership structure and steering purchasing decisions to enrich himself at the business's expense.

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Pizza Chain Worker Says Co. Shorted Breaks, Wages

By MJ Koo

A former pizza chain worker accused her employer of requiring hourly employees to keep working after clocking out, denying them meal and rest breaks and failing to pay overtime wages, according to a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles state court.

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

By MJ Koo

Haitian meatpacking workers who say they were lured to Colorado with false promises and subjected to race-based discrimination can proceed with their proposed class action, a federal judge recommended Friday, also denying a bid to strike class allegations.

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Tobacco Farm Loses Bid To Block DOL Visa Rule Hearing

By Emily Brill

A Kentucky tobacco farm must attend a U.S. Department of Labor hearing in September on whether it violated farmworker visa regulations, a federal judge ruled, tossing the farm's request for an injunction blocking the hearing.

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Ex-Detroit Club Worker Tells Jury Owner Made Racist Remarks

By Melanie Dorsey

A former Detroit Club contractor told a federal jury Monday that the club's owner repeatedly made racist comments about job candidates, employees and potential customers, including calling one spa manager candidate "too Black" and referring to two Black hostesses with a racial slur involving the N-word.

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Ohio Hemp Law Paused In Dormant Commerce Challenge

By Sam Reisman

An Ohio federal judge on Monday ordered a temporary pause on a new state law that reclassified hemp products as marijuana after finding that the hemp interests challenging the policy were likely to succeed on their claim the law was unconstitutional.

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3 Firms Steer Andrew Peller's CA$579M Go Private Deal

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Canadian wine company Andrew Peller Ltd. on Monday announced plans to go private after being acquired by Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. in a deal built by three law firms and boasts an enterprise value of CA$579 million ($414.9 million).

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How Federal PFAS Bill Would Expand Liability For Companies

Recently proposed federal legislation governing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances would not only phase out nonessential uses of PFAS and prohibit detectable environmental releases, but would also expand liability in ways that will matter to companies with current or historical PFAS exposure, says Ayodeji Ayolola at Gordon Rees.

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3 Things To Know About Trump's Pick To Lead SDNY

By Daniel Moritz-Rabson

President Donald Trump has announced that he plans to appoint Sullivan & Cromwell LLP partner James M. McDonald to lead the Southern District of New York. Here are three things to know about him.

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Trump Personal Atty In Carroll Cases Confirmed To 8th Circ.

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate voted 48-43 on Monday evening to confirm Justin Smith, who represented the president in the defamation and sexual abuse cases brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

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Hagens Berman Must Cover Fees After Misconduct Findings

By Adrian Cruz

Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP must cover the fees and costs of a special master who alleged the firm committed misconduct in product liability litigation over the morning sickness drug thalidomide, a Pennsylvania federal judge has said.

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Analysis

Newman's Appeal Loss Shows Limits On Suspension Reviews

By Ryan Davis

The U.S. Supreme Court's rejection on Monday of Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman's appeal in the long-running dispute over her suspension made clear that the available routes to challenge such orders are narrow, and spurred critics to contemplate ways to revise the system.

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Justices Turn Down Judge Newman's Suspension Case

By Ryan Davis

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman's effort to revive her lawsuit against her colleagues for suspending her, leaving intact a D.C. Circuit decision that her challenges to the order are not subject to judicial review.

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Attys Want Up To $33M In Long-Running UBH Benefits Fight

By Kellie Mejdrich

Attorneys for employee benefit plan participants who sued to change how United Behavioral Health processed claims for mental health and substance use disorder treatment asked a California federal court for up to $33 million in fees and expenses for their work on the "groundbreaking" case.

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Ex-SEC Atty Reprimanded Over Misstatements In Crypto Case

By Julie Manganis

A former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission attorney has received a public reprimand for misleading a judge in a cryptocurrency fraud case that led to sanctions against the agency.

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Barnes & Thornburg Profit-Share Admin Wants Legal Bills Paid

By James Boyle

A company that oversaw recordkeeping duties of Barnes & Thornburg LLP's profit-sharing plan says in a complaint in Pennsylvania state court it is owed legal fees over a previous suit filed by a former firm partner.

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FBI Misplaced Nadine Menendez's Jewelry, Judge Told

By Parker Quinlan

An attorney for Nadine Menendez on Monday told a Manhattan federal judge that the FBI is still unable to locate pieces of her jewelry seized as part of the investigation that led to Menendez and her husband, former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, being convicted of participating in a bribery scheme.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court this past week handled disputes involving shareholder voting rights, take-private transactions, merger disclosures, board control battles and investor litigation, while the Delaware Supreme Court heard arguments over the wind-down of an oil-and-gas investment fund.

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