AGs Seek Crackdown On Customized Food Pricing

By Nadia Dreid

Online food delivery platforms are charging people differently based on the personal data they glean from their smartphones, and the Federal Trade Commission ought to force companies to be upfront about it, say 16 state attorneys general.

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9th Circ. Questions Jack Daniel's TM Win Over 'Bad Spaniels'

By Ivan Moreno

A Ninth Circuit panel on Wednesday questioned whether Jack Daniel's proved that any mark beyond its name was famous enough to support a tarnishment ruling against VIP Products' poop-themed "Bad Spaniels" dog toy, while pressing both sides on whether courts should compare the parties' marks alone or also consider the toy's bottle-like design and crude humor.

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7th Circ. Weighs If Abbott Warning Would Change NEC Care

By Celeste Bott

A Seventh Circuit judge on Wednesday pushed counsel for a mother asking to revive her lawsuit claiming Abbott Laboratories' infant formula caused her premature daughter to develop a fatal gut disease to address whether the mother had a burden to identify a more adequate warning that would have prompted her baby's treating physicians to act differently.

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Bayer Curbs Seed Loyalty Program Amid DOJ Antitrust Inquiry

By Gina Kim

Bayer CropScience has agreed to back off, for the next seven years, from implementing requirements in its loyalty program where it was accused of tying discounts to sales targets that independent seed companies had to meet, according to the U.S. Department of Justice's announcement made Wednesday.

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Brief

Jack In The Box Can't Dodge Franchisees' Indemnity Claim

By Ben Adlin

A Washington state judge Tuesday denied Jack in the Box Inc.'s effort to sidestep liability for job postings that allegedly violated a Washington pay transparency statute, ruling that two franchisees suing the fast-food giant adequately stated an equitable indemnity claim under California law.

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Target Says Tuna Label Suit Rests On Generalized Grievances

By Gina Kim

Target urged a California federal judge to nix a proposed class action alleging its Good & Gather tuna products are deceptively labeled as "sustainably caught," arguing Tuesday the plaintiff takes issue with the global commercial tuna fishing industry, which "may reflect some bad actors, but none by Target's suppliers."

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DC Judge Questions Red Snapper Season Expansion Plan

By Jared Foretek

A D.C. federal judge on Wednesday seemed wary of administration attorneys' claims that a new fishery permitting regime exempting four southeastern states from recreational red snapper catch limits this year would help data collection for future limits.

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Baby Food Brands Accused Of Toxic Levels Of Heavy Metals

By Kelcey Caulder

Walmart, Gerber Products Co. and several other companies were hit with a suit in federal court claiming that they knowingly manufacture and sell baby foods containing dangerous levels of toxic metals.

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Ikea, Mondelez Customers Seek Tariff Refunds In Illinois Suits

By Lauraann Wood

Furniture chain Ikea and snack giant Mondelez are the latest companies to get hit with Illinois lawsuits seeking refunds of tariffs customers say they ultimately paid through inflated product prices before the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately found the tariffs illegal.   

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Amazon Rebuffs Lost Doc Allegations In COVID Pricing Case

By Rachel Riley

Amazon called on a Washington federal judge Tuesday to deny two consumers' bid for sanctions against it in a proposed class action over alleged price-gouging on the e-commerce platform during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying the plaintiffs are trying to dodge major legal hurdles by leveling baseless claims of failure to preserve evidence.

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Mass. Justices Say Tax Law Not Basis To Block Bog Sale

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts law that lowers property tax rates on agricultural land does not grant standing to abutters seeking to unwind the sale of a Cape Cod cranberry bog to a developer, the state's highest court said Wednesday.

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PTAB Panel Saves Some Herd Management Patent Claims

By Adam Lidgett

A special panel of three Patent Trial and Appeal Board judges has found that a regular review tribunal of the board wrongly invalidated some claims of an animal management patent, reviving those claims.

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Salad JV Partner Sued Over Cash Distribution Freeze

By Jarek Rutz

Taylor Fresh Foods Inc. sued Fresh Express Vegetable LLC in Delaware Chancery Court Wednesday, accusing its joint venture partner of improperly withholding millions of dollars in required cash distributions while trying to force out the venture's longtime chief executive.

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Fla. Judge OKs Staff Bonuses In Popeyes Franchisee Ch. 11

By David Minsky

A Florida federal bankruptcy judge approved performance-based bonuses to a group of workers of a Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen franchise operator, saying the program is key to maximizing the value of the debtor ahead of a Chapter 11 sale.

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Series

Law School's Missed Lesson: Diagnose Before Arguing

Law school often skips over explicitly teaching students how to determine what kind of problem a case presents before they commit to a particular doctrinal path, which risks building arguments that are internally coherent but externally misaligned, says Melanie Oxhorn at Kobre & Kim.

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Analysis

BigLaw Deals Scandal Puts Boston Back On White Collar Map

By Chris Villani

A sweeping insider trading case involving information stolen from BigLaw firms shows a return to bread-and-butter white collar enforcement for Boston federal prosecutors and provides a morale lift in an office that has seen shifting priorities and staff turnover since the signature "Varsity Blues" takedown in 2019, veteran prosecutors told Law360.

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Goldstein Taps Ex-SG Prelogar Before Sentence, Likely Appeal

By Jeff Overley

One of the nation's most accomplished oral advocates, Tom Goldstein, revealed Thursday he has retained another of the nation's most accomplished oral advocates, Elizabeth Prelogar, ahead of his sentencing and likely appeal in a criminal tax case that has captivated the appellate bar.

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Immigration Judges' 'Anxiety' Dialed Up Amid Mass Exodus

By Emma Cueto

Current and former immigration judges spoke on a web panel Thursday about threats to the independence of immigration judges and the strains on the immigration system, such as a massive backlog of cases at a time when many judges have been pushed out or fired.

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Analysis

How Exxon Attys Beat A 10-Year-Old Securities Class Action

By Spencer Brewer

This month, Exxon Mobil's defense team helped deliver a clean sweep victory for the energy giant when a federal jury in Texas found the company did not lie to investors about the profitability of some operations.

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PBM Swaps Cravath For WilmerHale In Price-Fixing Suit

By Bonnie Eslinger

Pharmacy benefit manager Prime Therapeutics LLC has replaced counsel Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP with WilmerHale and another firm in an antitrust case in Michigan federal court brought by the state's attorney general.

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Bush-Appointed Missouri Judge To Take Senior Status

By Courtney Bublé

U.S. District Judge David Gregory Kays of the Western District of Missouri will take semi-retired status in May 2027, according to an update from the federal judiciary on Thursday.

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Feature

5 Podcasts To Keep IP Attys Entertained And Informed

By Theresa Schliep

Whether intellectual property attorneys are hitting the road for a family trip or kicking their feet up at home, podcasts about legal news can offer an easy way for them to stay in the know while (hopefully) not working this Memorial Day weekend.

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