Alcoholic drink giant Sazerac has offered to acquire Jack Daniel's maker Brown-Forman for $15 billion, United Airlines CEO pitched a mega-merger with rival American Airlines to President Donald Trump, and popular pizza chains Papa John's and Pizza Hut are considering new ownership.
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TOP NEWS

Sazerac Pitches $15B Brown-Forman Buy, Plus More Rumors

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Alcoholic drink giant Sazerac has offered to acquire Jack Daniel's maker Brown-Forman for $15 billion, United Airlines CEO pitched a mega-merger with rival American Airlines to President Donald Trump, and popular pizza chains Papa John's and Pizza Hut are considering new ownership.

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Brita Filter Labels Don't Dupe Consumers, 9th Circ. Affirms

By Rae Ann Varona

A reasonable consumer would not expect a low-cost Brita filter to remove or reduce all common tap water contaminants to below lab detectable limits, the Ninth Circuit ruled Thursday, affirming the dismissal of a consumer's proposed false advertising class action against the manufacturer.

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Wis. Supreme Court Upholds Pabst Asbestos Verdict

By Emily Field

The Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld a verdict in favor of the estate of a steamfitter exposed to asbestos through his work at a Pabst Brewing Co. brewery, saying Wednesday that the company still owed a duty of care to employees of independent contractors, but capped punitive damages to about $4.65 million.

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2nd Circ. Says Animal Groups Can't Challenge Swine Rule

By Hailey Konnath

The Second Circuit on Thursday held that a trio of animal welfare groups don't have the standing to fight the U.S. Department of Agriculture's revised practices for inspecting pigs at slaughterhouses, ruling that none of the groups have shown they are likely to be harmed by the rule.

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Meta, Uber Verdicts Top Product Liability Trials

By Emily Field

This year has brought major courtroom setbacks for tech platforms and app companies. Juries issued headline-making verdicts against Meta and Google over claims their platforms harm young users, while Uber lost its first federal bellwether trial over driver assaults and now faces a second sexual assault case.

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LITIGATION

7th Circ. Wary Of Burford Entities' Late Opt-Out Of $32M Deal

By Celeste Bott

A Seventh Circuit panel appeared skeptical Thursday of two Burford Capital entities' argument that a lower court wrongly denied their day-late request to opt out of a $32 million price-fixing settlement between Cargill Inc. and a class of direct turkey purchasers, with one judge probing how hard a court needs to work "to save a sophisticated party from its own mistakes."

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Pa. Bakery Blasts Insurer Over Denied Collapse Coverage

By Gianna Ferrarin

A Pittsburgh-area bakery told a Pennsylvania state court its insurer denied coverage for a collapsed fire escape without ever inspecting the property.

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Agricultural Workers Seek Atty Fees After Co.'s No-Show

By Benjamin Morse

Farmworkers who accused agricultural companies of wage violations asked a Colorado federal judge to award nearly $24,000 in attorney fees and costs after one defendant and its lawyer stopped participating in discovery and ignored court orders.

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Brief

6th Circ. Asks Retirees To Answer Mortality Data Suit Redo Bid

By Patrick Hoff

The Sixth Circuit on Thursday asked participants in Kellogg and FedEx pension plans to respond to the companies' bids for reconsideration of the court's decision to revive their lawsuits alleging benefits were miscalculated because the plans used outdated mortality data.

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

What Cos. Should Look For As Minn. Plans PFAS Product Ban

As regulators finalize rulemaking for Minnesota's sweeping restrictions on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in consumer and commercial products, manufacturers, importers, distributors and retailers should pay attention — especially to how the pathway for essential use exemptions ends up being defined, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

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Series

Isshin-Ryu Karate Makes Me A Better Lawyer

My involvement in martial arts, specifically Isshin-ryu, which has principles rooted in the eight codes of karate, has been one of the most foundational in the development of my personality, and particularly my approach to challenges — including in my practice of law, says Kaitlyn Stone at Barnes & Thornburg.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

Another Record-Breaking Year For NY Lobbying: Watchdog

By Andrea Keckley

The amount of money spent on lobbying in New York state reached a new high — again — in 2025 despite lower dollar amounts from that year's top spenders, a state ethics and lobbying watchdog said Thursday.

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Roundup

UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Laura Stewart Liberty

The past week in London has seen Aston Martin file an appeal in a row with Chinese carmaker Geely over its winged logo for London black cabs, Ineos sue Ben Ainslie's America's Cup team for a £180 million ($244 million) boat, White & Case face a claim from two energy storage companies, and a golf tour company bring a claim against Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund after the fund invested in its rival.

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Alaska-Hawaiian Merger Judge Mulls DQ Over O'Melveny Ties

By Craig Clough

The parties in a consumer lawsuit challenging Alaska Airlines' 2024 acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines have been notified that the federal judge recently assigned to the case intends to disqualify himself unless they sign a waiver over one of his retirement accounts being tied to O'Melveny & Myers LLP, which is representing Alaska Airlines.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

New data found that some companies are being wary during the 2026 proxy season by negotiating deals behind closed doors rather than allowing shareholders to vote on issues. In the meantime, a report showed that the higher annual rate growth for outside counsel fees that began in 2022 has become the new normal. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Winston & Strawn LLP leads this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a New York federal jury found that Live Nation and its Ticketmaster subsidiary harmed competition in the live entertainment sector by willfully monopolizing ticketing services.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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Roundup

Balancing The Scales: Juror Bias, First For Revenge Porn Law

By Orlando Lorenzo

The California Supreme Court tossed the conviction and death sentence in a double slaying over the trial court's failures to investigate claims of juror bias, and an Ohio man is believed to be the first person in the nation convicted under a federal law intended to battle revenge porn.

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Promo that reads Law360 Pulse 2026 AI Survey

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

A.P. Moller-Maersk

Abbott Laboratories

Agri Stats Inc.

Amazon.com Inc.

American Airlines Group Inc.

American Beverage Association

American International Group Inc.

Animal Outlook

Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd.

Auto-Owners Insurance Co.

BNP Paribas SA

Barclays PLC

Brown-Forman Corp.

Burford Capital LLC

ByteDance Ltd.

CRA International Inc.

Cargill Inc.

Colorado Legal Services

DP World Ltd.

Digital Evidence Group LLC

Early Warning Services LLC

Eli Lilly & Co.

Euronext Amsterdam NV

FTI Consulting Inc.

FedEx Corp.

Financial Times Group Ltd.

Genting New York

Globalstar Inc.

Google LLC

Greater New York Hospital Association

HSBC Holdings PLC

Hawaiian Holdings Inc.

I Squared Capital Advisors LLC

Ineos Group Ltd.

Instagram Inc.

Institutional Shareholder Services Inc.

International Business Machines Corp.

Jack Daniel's Properties Inc.

Jane Street Group LLC

Jennie-O Turkey Store LLC

Kellogg Co.

Leonard Green & Partners LP

LexisNexis Legal & Professional

Liberty Mutual Insurance Group

LinkedIn Corp.

Live Nation Entertainment Inc.

Maines Paper & Food Service

Meta Platforms Inc.

Michigan State University

New Mountain Capital LLC

New York Mets

PGA TOUR Inc.

Pabst Brewing Co. Inc.

PacifiCorp

Papa John's International Inc.

Pernod Ricard SA

Pioneer Global Asset Management SpA

Pizza Hut Inc.

Public Citizen Inc.

RELX PLC

Sazerac Co. Inc.

Snap Inc.

Starbucks Corp.

Sysco Corp.

TUI AG

Tetra Tech Inc.

The Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

The Walt Disney Co.

TikTok Inc.

Uber Technologies Inc.

United Airlines Holdings Inc.

Volvo Car Corp.

Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.

Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

Worldline SA

YouTube Inc.

Yum Brands Inc.

LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

A&O Shearman

Addleshaw Goddard

Advisors LLC

Alioto Law Firm

Alston & Bird

Barnes & Thornburg

Bird & Bird

Boies Schiller

Bronster Fujichaku

Brown & Weinraub

Browne Jacobson LLP

Clarke Willmott

Clarkson Law Firm PC

Cooke Young

Cooley LLP

Cripps LLP

DLA Piper

Davis Wright Tremaine

Dean Omar

Dechert LLP

Dentons

Edmonds Marshall McMahon

Enyo Law

Fieldfisher

Gibson Dunn

Gingras Thomsen

Goodwin Procter

Greene Espel

Gunster Yoakley

Hagens Berman

Hill Dickinson

Hogan Lovells

Holland & Hart

Irwin Mitchell

J A Kemp LLP

JT Law Firm

Jones Day

Kellogg Hansen

Kennedys Law LLP

Keystone Law

King & Spalding

Kirkland & Ellis

Lanier Law Firm

Latham & Watkins

Lewis Silkin

Lockridge Grindal

Macfarlanes LLP

Mayer Brown

Morgan Lewis

Norton Rose

O'Hagan Meyer

O'Melveny & Myers

Osborne Clarke

Patterson Belknap

Paul Weiss

Perkins Coie

Pinsent Masons

Potter Clarkson

Quinn Emanuel

Reynolds Porter

Shakespeare Martineau

Sidley Austin

Simmons & Simmons

Skadden Arps

Sonder & Clay

Starn O'Toole

Teacher Stern

Venable LLP

White & Case

WilmerHale

Winston & Strawn

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

California Privacy Protection Agency

California Supreme Court

Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Companies House

Employee Benefits Security Administration

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

European Commission

Food and Drug Administration

Indiana Attorney General's Office

Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

New Mexico Attorney General's Office

New York State Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Ofgem

Secretary of State for Health and Others

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

U.S. Department of Agriculture

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of Labor

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

U.S. Supreme Court

UK High Court

UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO)

United States District Court for the District of Colorado

Wisconsin Supreme Court