McDonald's Used Deloitte Tool To Fix Menu Prices, Suit Says

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

McDonald's Corp. and Deloitte Consulting have been hit with a proposed class action alleging the fast food chain's internal pricing system used to set the cost of each item is based on confidential transaction data obtained from ostensibly competing McDonald's franchises and company-owned restaurants.

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Costco Beats Customers' 100% Agave Tequila Labeling Suit

By Rachel Riley

A Seattle federal judge on Friday shot down consumers' proposed class action accusing Costco of selling Kirkland Signature tequila falsely labeled as "100% de Agave," deferring to Mexico's purview over tequila regulation and citing a Mexican government body's rejection of similar adulteration claims.

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Stop & Shop 'Cheap Trick' Hides App Order Fees, Suit Says

By Carolyn Muyskens

A Massachusetts resident said grocery chain Stop & Shop adds "sneaky fees" to online pickup orders at checkout, claiming in a new complaint that the tactic violates the state's price transparency regulations.

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Conn. Judge Again Bars Wrongful Death Claims In Cookie Suit

By Emily Field

A Connecticut state court judge has stopped wrongful death claims from proceeding against grocery store chain Stew Leonard's, its CEO and several employees over a professional ballet dancer's allergy death from eating an allegedly mislabeled cookie, reiterating a previous ruling.

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Quarterly IPO Volume Fell Short Of Expectations Amid Delays

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Third-quarter capital markets activity in the U.S. proved to be robust with a solid string of initial public offerings, but capital markets attorneys say it did not fully meet expectations due to delays of notable IPOs caused by market uncertainty.

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5th Circ. Revives Snapper Switch Suit Against Upscale Resto

By Rae Ann Varona

The Fifth Circuit Friday revived a proposed class action that accused a historic fine-dining Mississippi restaurant of scheming to sell inexpensive foreign fish while pricing them as more expensive premium local fish, saying in a published opinion that a diner plausibly alleged the fish mislabeling was "widespread and routine."

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Target Can't Nix Wash. Workers' Unpaid Walking Time Claims

By Rachel Riley

Target must face proposed class claims that it shortchanged distribution center workers on wages for minutes spent passing through security checkpoints and walking to their departments each shift, a Washington federal judge said Friday, finding the plaintiffs had shown the time qualified as "on duty."

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Whataburger Can't Arbitrate Ex-Worker's Sex Assault Suit

By Y. Peter Kang

A Texas appellate court has declined to send a former Whataburger employee's lawsuit to arbitration, finding that the allegations of unwanted sexual touching trigger a federal law that bars arbitration of sexual assault and sexual harassment claims.

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Analysis

11th Circ. ERISA Exhaustion Shift Furthers Textualist Trend

By Kellie Mejdrich

An Eleventh Circuit decision overruling decades-old precedent that took a strict view of when federal benefits law claims could be brought in court continues a trend of courts excising judicially imposed rules not contained in statutory text, attorneys say.

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Ill. Judge Issues Injunction Against Pizzeria In TM Row

By Adam Lidgett

An Illinois federal judge has said family-owned pizzeria Ledo's Inc. can only use its mark within a certain radius of its restaurant, while also limiting how it accepts delivery and shipping orders.

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San Benito Foods Deal Gets Early OK, With Notice Concerns

By Jonathan Capriel

A California federal judge has given her initial blessing to a nearly $1 million deal that would end a Monterey Bay-area township's lawsuit against a tomato cannery that claimed the cannery's noxious odors diminished residents' property values.

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Texas Court Revives REIT's Claims Over Short Seller Article

By Spencer Brewer

A Texas appellate court has partially revived a suit by a farmland-centered real estate investment trust against a Texas hedge fund that allegedly helped pen a defamatory article while short selling the REIT, saying the REIT pled valid business disparagement claims.

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Analysis

Could A Criminal Sentencing Case Upend Loper Bright?

By Katie Buehler

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch is concerned that a ruling instructing trial courts to defer to the U.S. Sentencing Commission's interpretation of federal sentencing guidelines could blow a "pretty big hole" in the court's recent rejection of deference doctrines. His colleagues, however, don't appear as perturbed.

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Transfer Pricing Analyses May Apply To Tariff Refunds Claims

Both plaintiffs and defendants in consumer class actions over tariff refunds should examine transfer pricing analyses, which can offer contemporaneous evidence as to how much of a tariff was borne in the U.S. by the importer or consumers rather than absorbed earlier in the supply chain, say economists at The Brattle Group.

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DOJ Or Trump: Judge Asks Who Is Deciding Golf Course Plan

By Jared Foretek

Trump administration lawyers continued to insist at a hearing Monday there is no final plan to remake East Potomac Golf Course, and they changed their tune about whether one would require environmental review, despite new social media posts from the president announcing that work on the overhaul would begin "immediately."

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Wood Smith, Charlesbank Capital Ink Pioneering MSO Deal

By Emma Cueto

Insurance defense firm Wood Smith Henning & Berman has inked a deal to take investment from middle market investment firm Charlesbank Capital Partners via a managed services organization, according to an announcement Monday, the largest U.S. firm to announce such a move.

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Brief

Arizona Court Approves State's First Non-ABA Law School

By Emma Cueto

The Arizona Supreme Court has approved the state's first law school not accredited by the American Bar Association, citing the need to increase the number of lawyers per capita in the state and provide more affordable options for legal education.

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Court Denies Gov't Bid To DQ Susman Godfrey In ABA's Suit

By Andrea Keckley

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has denied the U.S. Department of Justice's bid to disqualify Susman Godfrey LLP from representing the American Bar Association in its lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's executive orders against multiple major law firms. 

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Trump Taps DOJ Official, Federal Prosecutor For Judgeships

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump on Monday nominated a senior U.S. Department of Justice attorney for a Nebraska federal judgeship and an assistant U.S. attorney for a seat on the Northern District of Indiana bench.

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What The Justices Won't Hear: A Roundup Of Cert Denials

By Taylor Bowie

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up cases from Google, a U.S. Navy contractor, and other appellate hopefuls on Monday, according to an order list.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court last week blocked Cloudflare Inc. from completing a restructuring meant to preserve its founders' voting control, while Tower Semiconductor Ltd. accused Intel Corp. of backing out of a semiconductor manufacturing agreement and social media company Triller Group Inc. challenged its removal from Nasdaq.

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