Pepsi, Frito-Lay Accuse Sugar Companies Of Price Fixing

By Susan Smiley

Prominent food and beverage companies including Pepsi, Quaker Oats, Bimbo Bakeries and Frito-Lay filed an antitrust lawsuit in Minnesota federal court Friday alleging that major sugar refineries and producers have been involved in a price-fixing scheme since 2019.

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7th Circ. Revives Suit Over Chobani's 'Sugar Free' Labeling

By Hailey Konnath

The Seventh Circuit Monday resurrected a proposed class action claiming Chobani misled customers by labeling its yogurt as "sugar free," ruling that the naturally occurring sweetener in the yogurt constitutes a sugar under federal regulation and thus the customers have plausibly alleged consumer deception.

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Taco Bell, Taylor Farms Hit With Another Cyclospora Suit

By Y. Peter Kang

Consumers have filed another suit in Michigan federal court against Taco Bell and produce supplier Taylor Farms, alleging that the companies' negligence caused them to suffer cyclospora infections after eating contaminated iceberg lettuce sold at Taco Bell restaurants.

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Chobani Can't Escape Danone's Coffee TM Suit

By Adam Lidgett

A New York federal judge on Monday refused to toss Danone's unregistered trademark infringement suit against Chobani over use of the phrase "Bright & Mellow," saying Danone plausibly backed up its argument that the mark was not simply generic.

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Insurers Don't Owe Grocer Coverage For Opioid Settlement

By Hope Patti

A group of insurers owes no coverage to grocery chain Harris Teeter for amounts that its parent company, Kroger, paid as part of a $1.37 billion global settlement of opioid suits brought by government entities, North Carolina's business court ruled.

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Nicotine Pouch Maker, FDA Strike Deal To End Suit

By Jonathan Capriel

The maker of Zone nicotine pouches reached a deal to end its lawsuit accusing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of unfairly holding up its market application, which the company said could force it to stop selling its products for years.

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FTC Reaches Deal With Corteva In Pesticides Rebate Case

By Matthew Perlman

Corteva told a North Carolina federal court Monday that it reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission in a case accusing the pesticide maker of blocking competition from generic rivals through the use of loyalty rebates.

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End Defamation Claim Against Baker Botts Atty, Court Advised

By Rose Krebs

A Florida federal magistrate judge has recommended that a defamation claim against a Baker Botts LLP patent attorney be tossed, saying an inventor hasn't shown that the lawyer's comments to a reporter at issue in the case were defamatory.

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GoodPop, JonnyPops Trade Blows In Fruit Pop False Ad Fight

By Bonnie Eslinger

GoodPop and JonnyPops have both filed summary judgment bids in a false advertising battle in Texas federal court that was filed two years ago by GoodPop, each arguing that their rival's claims over their respective frozen pops' fruit and sugar content can be tossed without going to trial.

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7th Circ. Asked To Clarify Copyright Prevailing Party Status

By Elliot Weld

A man who successfully defended himself from being held liable for damages when he was sued by a food photography company that claimed his photo of raw meat on Facebook counted as copyright infringement has asked the Seventh Circuit to find that he's the "prevailing party" for purposes of seeking attorney fees.

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Albertsons Opioid Trial Told Of Needles, ODs In Library

By Ben Adlin

A witness in Washington's case accusing Albertsons Cos. Inc. of fueling the state's opioid crisis testified at a bench trial Monday that problem drug use was evident in a city library system she's led for nearly a decade, pointing to syringes scattered across the facility and multiple instances of overdoses.

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Speech Concerns Could Sink Maine Lobster Fishers' Suit

By Carolyn Muyskens

A panel of First Circuit judges Monday closely scrutinized the Maine lobster industry's lawsuit over a sustainable seafood report that told consumers to avoid lobster, raising doubts that the lobster fishers can overcome a bar on group defamation claims. 

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Texas Ranchers Ask For Judgment In Cattle Fraud Scheme

By Spencer Brewer

Two ranching companies asked a Texas federal court for partial summary judgment in a suit alleging Hall Cattle Feeders LLC lost their cattle and refused to pay for it, saying the undisputed evidence shows that Hall breached federal agriculture law.

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Cannabis In The Courts: A Midyear Litigation Review

By Sam Reisman

In the first half of 2026, lawsuits taking aim at recent federal shifts in cannabis policy, a federal ban on marijuana users owning firearms and purported residency criteria in state cannabis licensure programs were argued in multiple courts across the country.

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Brief

Seafood Wholesaler To Pay $265K In EEOC Sex Bias Suit

By Grace Elletson

A Georgia federal judge on Monday signed off on a $265,000 deal reached between a seafood wholesaler and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to end the agency's sex bias suit claiming the business refused to hire women for warehouse positions.

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Wine And Spirit Distributor Hits Ch. 11 With $540M Of Debt

By Alex Wittenberg

Republic National Distributing Co., a more than century-old alcohol distributor that struggled in recent years to handle an outsized debt load, has filed for Chapter 11 protection in a Texas bankruptcy court with about $540 million in funded debt and plans to sell its remaining assets.

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USDA, Treasury Moves May Widen Agricultural Deal Scrutiny

Two agency actions that identify weaknesses in the government’s foreign investment screening architecture signal a broadening of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States’ jurisdiction over agricultural real estate transactions, more demanding beneficial-ownership resolutions and the coming integration of agency disclosure systems, says researcher Robert Green.

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Rhode Island Self-Checkout Law Signals National Trend

Rhode Island's law limiting self-checkout in retail stores is the first of its kind, but state and local lawmakers across the country are considering similar bills — and if enacted, they could create a patchwork of compliance requirements around issues including staffing, signage and restricted merchandise, says Hannah Flint at Hunton.

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Series

Judges On AI: Examining Administrative, Organizational Uses

U.S. District Judge Alan Albright of the Western District of Texas examines how artificial intelligence could transform a court's ability to deal with administrative work and organize materials when preparing for hearings or drafting opinions, thereby affording judges more time to resolve contested issues.

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Brief

Milbank Issues Bonuses To Associates, Special Counsel

By Andrea Keckley

Milbank LLP is continuing to lead the way on bonuses, confirming Monday it has issued a round of special bonuses ranging from $6,000 for the class of 2026 and 2025 associates to $25,000 for the class of 2021 associates and beyond.

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Cooley Owes $25.4M Judgment To NJ Biotech Co. Founder

By Brian Steele

A New Jersey state court on Monday entered a $25.4 million judgment against Cooley LLP after a jury found the multinational firm had committed malpractice in its representation of a biotech founder who said his own lawyers assisted in shoving him out of his company.

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ABA Says Feds' Susman Godfrey DQ Bid Is More Intimidation

By Lauren Berg

The American Bar Association on Monday urged the D.C. federal judge overseeing its lawsuit challenging 2025 executive orders targeting law firms to reject the Trump administration's bid to have Susman Godfrey LLP disqualified as plaintiffs' counsel, calling it the latest "effort to intimidate" the American legal profession.

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Quinn Emanuel's Ethics Training 'Promising,' Judge Says

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge Monday approved a court-ordered ethics training program prepared by Quinn Emanuel in the wake of misrepresentations the firm made concerning an expert in a false advertising suit brought by Guardant Health against its client Natera, saying the firm had designed an "extremely promising" eight-hour program.

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Simpson Thacher Atty Says Patriot Nat'l Founder Sank Co.

By Madison Arnold

A Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP partner wrapped up her testimony Monday in a Florida state malpractice trial brought by the founder of Patriot National Inc., telling the jury that the founder was willing to forgo establishing a floor on the value of so-called Series B warrants, which he says contributed to the company's demise.

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300+ Public Defenders Strike In The Bronx

By Andrea Keckley and Daniel Moritz-Rabson

More than 300 attorneys and staff with the Bronx Defenders Union went on strike Monday, one year after the last time the union walked off the job.

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Comey Says Seashell Post No Threat To Trump

By Abigail Harrison

Former FBI Director James Comey urged a North Carolina federal court Monday to dismiss an indictment stemming from a social media post he made last year, arguing the post doesn't constitute a "true threat" to President Donald Trump.

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