PepsiCo Loses Another Frito-Lay Tax Deficiency Fight In Ill.

By Lauraann Wood

An Illinois state panel affirmed a trial court's finding that PepsiCo improperly excluded Frito-Lay profits from state income tax calculations by factoring expatriates' foreign payroll into its considerations, handing the company its second appellate loss on the issue.

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Starbucks, Army Veteran Resolve Paternity Leave Firing Suit

By Patrick Hoff

An Army veteran and former Starbucks employee has agreed to end his lawsuit accusing the coffee giant of failing to address his supervisor's insulting comments about veterans and firing him for taking parental leave, according to a Thursday filing in Washington federal court.

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Atty Owns 'Sloppy' Incorrect Citations Before Texas Justices

By José Luis Martínez

A Houston attorney told a Texas appellate panel Thursday that incorrect case citations in his brief were "sloppy" and "embarrassing," taking responsibility for errors that included nonexistent cases and inaccurate quotations.

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Shake Shack Served With Wash. Class Action Over Breaks, OT

By Ben Adlin

Burger chain Shake Shack failed to provide workers in Washington state with mandatory meal and rest breaks, as well as proper overtime and sick leave pay, according to a proposed class action removed Wednesday to Seattle federal court.

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DC Coffee Chain Compass Can Sell Stores In Ch. 11

By Emlyn Cameron

A Washington bankruptcy judge agreed Thursday to approve the sale of Compass Coffee's locations and other assets to the American branch of European coffeehouse chain Caffe Nero, the debtor announced.

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Couple Drop Frozen Mango Listeria Suit Against Kroger

By Jonathan Capriel

A man who claims he contracted a listeria infection from a frozen mango product he bought at Kroger has agreed to drop his lawsuit against the grocery giant and food producers, according to a joint notice filed on Wednesday.

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Tilray Says Hemp Protein Powder Label Suit Falls Flat

By Mike Curley

Cannabis and hemp product maker Tilray Brands Inc. is urging a California federal court to throw out a proposed class action alleging that it misleads consumers on the amount of protein its "Just Hemp" powder contains, saying the suit is preempted by federal regulations.

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Multi-Color, Creditors Clash Over Bid To Transfer NJ Case

By Alex Wittenberg

A New Jersey bankruptcy judge declined to rule Thursday on motions by a creditor group and the U.S. Trustee's Office to transfer or dismiss the Chapter 11 case of global label maker Multi-Color Corp., saying he would endeavor to rule on them soon.

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What New Packaging Waste Laws Mean For Franchisors

With states ramping up laws establishing extended producer responsibility programs for packaging materials, paper products and single-use food service ware, restaurant and hospitality franchisors face special compliance challenges as they navigate a delicate balance between conflicting priorities, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

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Series

Playing Piano Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Playing piano and practicing law share many parallels relating to managing complexity: Just as hearing an entire musical passage in my head allows me to reliably deliver the message, thinking about the audience's impression helps me create a legal narrative that keeps the reader engaged, says Michael Shepherd at Fish & Richardson.

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How Epstein Referred Clients To BigLaw Partners In His Orbit

By Aebra Coe

Billionaire and child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein always had top lawyers in his orbit. He also had extensive and lasting relationships with several partners at BigLaw firms, files newly released by the Department of Justice show.

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Goldstein Placed Under Home Confinement Until Sentencing

By Jared Foretek

SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein was placed under home confinement by a Maryland federal judge until his sentencing, but will likely be able to keep his $3 million D.C. home after the jury that convicted him separately found there wasn't a clear nexus between the property and his mortgage fraud conviction.

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'One Way Or Another, ICE Will Comply,' Minn. Judge Vows

By Lauren Berg

The Minnesota federal court's chief judge who admonished U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for violating nearly 100 court orders concerning the Trump administration's immigration operations in the state vowed Thursday "to do whatever is required to protect the rule of law," including holding government officials in criminal contempt.

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IRS Broke Law 42K Times By Giving Info To ICE, Judge Says

By Anna Scott Farrell

The federal judge who stopped the Internal Revenue Service from sharing taxpayer addresses with immigration authorities said Thursday that a recent admission by the agency showed that it broke the law more than 42,000 times last summer when it disclosed addresses by relying on a computerized matching system.

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Calif. Atty Agrees To Discipline From State Bar Over AI Errors

By Hailey Konnath

A Los Angeles attorney has agreed to be disciplined for filing appellate briefs rife with artificial intelligence-hallucinated case law quotations, according to a stipulation approved Wednesday by the California State Bar Court, which found that he "recklessly and with gross negligence failed to perform legal services with competence."

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Reed Smith Says Atty Can't Expand Pay Bias Damages Period

By Grace Elletson

Reed Smith LLP is urging a New Jersey state court to rule that an attorney who claimed the firm unlawfully underpaid her cannot expand the time window for which she's seeking damages, arguing a legal doctrine used to revive continuing claims can't be used to collect back pay.

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Feds Seek To Toss DOJ Official's Suit Over Epstein-Talk Firing

By Lynn LaRowe

The U.S. Department of Justice has asked a D.C. federal court to ax a wrongful termination lawsuit brought by a former DOJ official who was fired after he was surreptitiously filmed talking about Jeffrey Epstein on what he thought was a date, saying district courts don't have jurisdiction and the matter belongs in front of the Merit Systems Protection Board.

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Brief

Senate Judiciary Advances Illinois US Atty

By Nadia Dreid

The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced the nomination of Gregory Gilmore to be U.S. attorney for the Central District of Illinois in a quick vote that passed without comment.

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