Trump Executive Order Targets 'Made In America' Labeling

By Emily Field

President Donald Trump on Friday issued an executive order directing the Federal Trade Commission to draft regulations for online retailers to verify that goods advertised as "Made In America" are in fact made in the country, making it an enforcement priority for the agency.

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Agri Stats Cuts Chicken, Pork, Turkey Price-Fixing Deals

By Matthew Perlman

Agri Stats Inc. reached settlements Friday with groups of buyers in separate cases over alleged price fixing in the chicken, pork and turkey industries, ending several sets of claims targeting use of its benchmarking reports by protein processors.

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NY Man Can't Claim He Bought Tainted Grimmway Carrots

By Mike Curley

A New York federal judge on Friday threw out a proposed class action against Grimmway Enterprises Inc. over carrots recalled for possible contamination with E. coli, saying the plaintiff hasn't plausibly alleged the carrots he bought were tainted at all.

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Labor Board Accuses UFCW Unit Of Fining Nonmembers

By Braden Campbell

National Labor Relations Board prosecutors have accused a United Food and Commercial Workers local of violating federal labor law by fining two King Soopers workers who quit the union and returned to work during a strike last year.

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Insurers Say Prairie Farms' Policies Don't Cover $191M Verdict

By Celeste Bott

Berkeley National Insurance Co. and a Sompo International unit told an Illinois federal judge that excess liability policies they issued to Prairie Farms do not cover a $191.5 million punitive damages award the dairy giant must pay to the family of a man who died while transporting dry ice for one of its subsidiaries.

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Tribes Back Bid To Undo NY Eel-Fishing Ruling At 2nd Circ.

By Crystal Owens

A Native American rights group and a Massachusetts tribe are backing a Second Circuit bid to reverse a decision that a New York Indigenous nation does not have eel-fishing rights free of state regulatory fees, arguing that they have an interest in ensuring inherent aboriginal rights are protected.

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Walmart Says Pa. Store Didn't Break Grocery Sales Agreement

By Matthew Santoni

Walmart wants to throw out a neighboring property owner's claim that a Pittsburgh-area store breached the terms of a nearly 30-year-old easement agreement, arguing a lawsuit's allegation that it had been in violation of an agreement not to compete on grocery sales for years was too vague and too late.

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Nature's Bakery Sued Over 'Wholesome' Fig Bar Label

By Emily Field

A New Yorker on Thursday lodged a proposed class action against Nature's Bakery LLC, saying that its "wholesome" representation belies the presence of synthetic citric acid and excessive sugar in its fig bars.

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Tort Report: Uber Won't OK Bigger Jury At 2nd Bellwether

By Y. Peter Kang

Trial strategy by Uber ahead of a second bellwether trial in sexual assault multidistrict litigation and a $4 million injury verdict against Publix in Florida lead Law360's Tort Report, which compiles recent personal injury and medical malpractice news that may have flown under the radar.

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Brief

H-2A Workers Reach $305K Deal In Wage Dispute With Farm

By Irene Spezzamonte

Lee and Sons Farms told a North Carolina federal court it has agreed to pay $305,000 to settle claims from migrant H-2A workers who accused it of underpaying them and forcing them to buy inadequate meals.

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Roundup

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

By Laura Stewart Liberty

In London, Estée Lauder accused Jo Malone's founder of intellectual property infringement, the wife of an Iranian businessman linked to a £75 million fraud sued several Iranian oil companies, HSBC sued U.S. property tycoon Michael Fuchs, and Charles Russell Speechlys brought a claim against a United Arab Emirates company it once represented in an international arbitration.

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Ky. Farm Says DOL Must Bring H-2A Case In Federal Court

By Britain Eakin

A small Kentucky tobacco farm has sued the U.S. Department of Labor, claiming its in-house adjudication system for violations of the H-2A temporary farmworker visa program is unconstitutional because the agency serves as the prosecutor, judge and jury.

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Section 122 Tariffs Show Shift In Strategy, Not Trade Policy

By imposing temporary tariffs under Section 122 of the Trade Act as a stopgap measure while it pivots to less transitory statutory authorities, the Trump administration sent a clear message that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Learning Resources v. Trump, invalidating duties imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, will not precipitate a change in policy direction, say attorneys at Snell & Wilmer.

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What New Animal Welfare Enforcement Push Means For Cos.

The Trump administration's recently announced multiagency focus on violations of the Animal Welfare Act and related laws will likely lead to broader enforcement actions across industries, heightened scrutiny of compliance standards and a need for businesses to adopt effective risk management practices, says Shennie Patel at Crowell & Moring.

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Conservative Groups Back DOJ As Amici In Law Firm EO Suits

By Emily Sawicki

Conservative groups are backing the Trump administration's attempts to revive executive orders targeting BigLaw firms, arguing in an amicus brief to the D.C. Circuit that Perkins Coie LLP had "unclean hands" for its part in what they called the "Russiagate hoax."

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Winston & Strawn Sanctioned For Trying To 'Make Up Facts'

By Dani Kass

A California federal judge sanctioned Winston & Strawn LLP on Monday for making up facts and otherwise misrepresenting the record in contract litigation over its client's app being removed from Apple's platform, then separately dismissed the case on the merits.

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Don't 'Grimace, Nod, Laugh': Judge Breyer Slams Musk's Attys

By Bonnie Eslinger

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer scolded Elon Musk's Quinn Emanuel counsel during a hearing Monday ahead of closing arguments in California litigation alleging that Musk tanked Twitter's stock to get out of his $44 billion acquisition deal, saying he wouldn't "sit here and watch lawyers grimace, nod, laugh in court."

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Pro Se Litigant Lawyered So Well He Owes $1.8M, Judge Says

By Dorothy Atkins

A Michigan federal judge ruled Monday that a pro se defendant must pay software-maker Dassault Systemes $1.8 million in fees for willfully infringing its software copyrights to train design students, while commending the pro se litigant's professionalism during 15 years of litigation for rivaling and exceeding many licensed attorneys.

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SEC Enforcement Head Resigns After 7 Months

By Sarah Jarvis

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Monday that its enforcement director, Margaret "Meg" Ryan, has resigned from the agency after nearly seven months on the job.

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Analysis

Excitement, Tinged With Skepticism, Over AAA's AI Arbitrator

By Caroline Simson

The American Arbitration Association caused a stir last fall when it introduced its AI Arbitrator for documents-only construction cases, and even though lawyers say they're excited about the tool's possibilities — and that of artificial intelligence in arbitration in general — so far, many have been reluctant to be the first to take that plunge.

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Boris Epshteyn Targeted Over Trump Bid To 'Coerce' BigLaw

By Lauren Berg

Lawyers, law professors and retired judges led by two nonprofits urged the New York state courts' ethics committee on Monday to investigate Boris Epshteyn's involvement in President Donald Trump's efforts to "intimidate and coerce" BigLaw firms into pro bono agreements with the administration.

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Trump To Get 5th North Carolina Federal Court Vacancy

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump will get another judicial vacancy to fill in North Carolina with U.S. District Judge William L. Osteen Jr. of the Middle District of North Carolina recently announcing he will take senior status.

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Paralegal Calls Full Lewis Brisbois Arbitration Unenforceable

By Adrian Cruz

A former Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP paralegal has told a Florida state judge that the firm shouldn't be able to force her into arbitrating her claims against it because a number of the alleged actions took place after she was terminated from her job.

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Democrats Push DOJ To Investigate Noem For Perjury

By Courtney Bublé

Democrats have referred the departing U.S. secretary of homeland security, Kristi Noem, to the Department of Justice for a perjury investigation following her recent congressional testimony.

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Mass. Justices Won't Boost Pay For Court-Appointed Attys

By Julie Manganis

Massachusetts' highest court on Monday declined a request to let state judges offer higher hourly rates to induce attorneys to accept court-appointed cases, a proposal meant to alleviate a shortage of appointed counsel in two of the state's busiest counties.

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Ga. Panel Says Minister Can't Rep His Church In Tax Case

By Chart Riggall

The Georgia Court of Appeals said Monday that nonattorneys can't be allowed to represent unincorporated associations in court, backing a trial court's dismissal of a minister's bid to represent his church in a property tax dispute with his home county.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court's docket last week featured disputes including an $83.75 million settlement tied to a renewable energy merger, fraud claims in a fertilizer company acquisition and a developer's fight for control of a major Philadelphia redevelopment project.

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