Cyclospora Outbreak Sends Struggling Salad Chain To Ch. 11

By Rick Archer

The operators of the restaurant chain Salad and Go have filed for Chapter 11 protection in a Texas bankruptcy court with more than $500 million in liabilities, saying the business will be winding down after years of losses were accelerated by the cyclospora outbreak that has sickened thousands of people throughout the country.

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Grocery Chains Accuse Refined Sugar Cos. Of Price-Fixing

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

Several grocery chains, including Albertsons and Kroger, have accused a group of refined sugar companies including Domino Sugar of conspiring to artificially raise the cost of refined sugar through a "give to get" arrangement.

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NYC's Food Apps Data Law Goes Too Far, 2nd Circ. Says

By Lauren Berg

A New York City law that would require DoorDash, GrubHub and other delivery apps to share customer data with the restaurants fulfilling food orders violates the First Amendment, the Second Circuit ruled Wednesday.

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Conn. Atty To Fork Over $3,500 For AI Errors In Taco TM Beef

By Brian Steele

A Connecticut federal judge imposed a $3,500 fine on a defense attorney who submitted two motions riddled with AI-generated mistakes in a taco restaurant's trademark battle, finding that although the lawyer expressed remorse and promised to make changes to his verification process, he still showed "subjective bad faith."

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Starbucks Ditched Irish Vodka Without Notice, Producer Says

By Ben Adlin

An Irish vodka producer sued Starbucks Corp. in Washington state court over accusations the coffee giant broke a contract that required it to give six months' notice before discontinuing its use of the vodka at Starbucks Reserve and Roastery locations in the United States.

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Texas Cos., Others Urge Cruz, Cornyn To Block Rio Barriers

By Corey Rothauser

More than 140 river outfitters, local businesses and recreation groups have urged Texas' two U.S. senators and Gov. Greg Abbott to intervene and stop planned border barrier construction in and around Big Bend National Park, warning the project would devastate the region's recreation economy and cut off public access to the Rio Grande.

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Brief

US Looking Into Aluminum, Tissue For Possible Duty Evasion

By Jack McLoone

The U.S. Department of Commerce opened a pair of investigations Wednesday into aluminum packaging products from Indonesia and Malaysia and tissue paper imports from Vietnam to determine whether the goods are circumventing duties placed on the products imported from China.

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JBS To Pay $31M In Pilgrim's Pride Investors' Control Suit

By Sydney Price

Brazil-based meat giant JBS SA agreed to pay $31 million to shareholders of its subsidiary Pilgrim's Pride Corp. to settle a suit accusing JBS, its affiliates and its Pilgrim's board appointees of unfairly increasing JBS' clout and access to dividends and tax benefits at the expense of minority shareholders of Pilgrim's.

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Graphic Designer Agrees To End $31M Brewery Logo Suit

By Kelcey Caulder

A long-running dispute over the ownership of Atlanta-based SweetWater Brewing's leaping trout logo came to an end Wednesday, with the logo's creator agreeing to drop his suit alleging the brewery continued using it without permission after a $366 million acquisition by Aphria Inc. in 2020.

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Bang Energy's Ex-CEO Gets Loan Approval To Fund Defense

By Carolina Bolado

A Florida bankruptcy judge approved a loan Wednesday for a company managed by Bang Energy founder Jack Owoc to allow him to fund his defense in litigation filed by the trustee overseeing the energy drinks manufacturer's bankrupt estate.

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3 Private Suits Test Influencer Ads As FTC Stays On Sidelines

Three lawsuits filed so far this year illustrate how influencer campaigns are facing growing scrutiny from private plaintiffs, despite the Federal Trade Commission not bringing an influencer marketing enforcement action since revising its endorsement guides to address the topic in 2023, but brands can take concrete steps to reduce the risks, says Gonzalo Mon at Kelley Drye.

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Brown Rudnick Adds 34 Attys, Will Open Silicon Valley Office

By Daniel Moritz-Rabson

Brown Rudnick LLP announced on Wednesday that it had lured a 34-attorney intellectual property litigation group from Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP and would be opening a Silicon Valley office with many of those lawyers.

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Law Grad Employment Remains High As BigLaw Drives Hires

By Aebra Coe

Class of 2025 law school graduates posted near-record high employment rates, with large law firms hiring more graduates than any other industry category as federal government hiring experienced a significant decline, according to new data released Wednesday.

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Analysis

These Firms Are Picking Up The Most PTAB Work

By Theresa Schliep

Intellectual property heavyweight Fish & Richardson PC remains the busiest firm in front of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, as it again secured the top spot on a list of firms with the most PTAB trials over the past three years.

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Murdaugh Loses Jury Tampering Suit Against Ex-Court Clerk

By Jake Maher

A South Carolina federal judge on Wednesday dismissed disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh's jury tampering suit against a former court clerk who was found to have interfered in his murder trial, ruling there was no connection between his alleged damages and the ex-clerk's misconduct.

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New Mexico Joins States With Alternative Atty License Paths

By Jack Karp

Law school graduates will soon be able to earn their license to practice in New Mexico by working under an attorney's supervision and demonstrating their legal skills rather than by taking the bar exam, the state's Supreme Court chief justice told Law360 Pulse on Wednesday.

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New Mexico Says Blanche, DOJ Blocked Epstein Ranch Probe

By Lauren Berg

The state of New Mexico asked a Washington, D.C., federal court Wednesday to force the U.S. Department of Justice to hand over unredacted Jeffrey Epstein investigative files, saying it needs the materials for its own investigation of alleged crimes at the late sex offender's Santa Fe County ranch.

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Texas Firm Lands $150M HHS Services Deal For Migrant Kids

By Britain Eakin

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said it has entered into a $150 million contract with a small Texas law firm to provide legal services to unaccompanied immigrant children, raising concerns from former subcontractors about the firm's experience with immigration matters.

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Simpson Thacher Witness Takes Aim At PIPE Stocks Claim

By Madison Arnold

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP wrapped up its defense Wednesday to a Florida state malpractice suit from the founder of Patriot National Inc. over the firm's handling of a private investment in public equity transaction, with a stock market expert testifying that short selling stock allowed under the deal didn't lead to the insurance services company's downfall.

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Sierra Leone Isn't Responding To Its Own Attys, Judge Told

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

A second law firm now says it is being iced out by the government of Sierra Leone in a yearslong legal battle that began over the country's dispute with a U.K.-based mining company.

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NY Legal Aid Union Averts Strike After 4 Months Of Talks

By Andrea Keckley

Another New York legal aid union has reached a deal with its organization's management, averting the possibility of a strike after its contract and those of four other unions expired at the end of June.

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CREXi Wants 9th Circ. To Undo Quinn Emanuel CoStar Row DQ

By Bryan Koenig

Commercial Real Estate Exchange Inc. doesn't want to replace Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP after a California federal judge disqualified the firm from defending a copyright infringement suit by CoStar, seeking Ninth Circuit intervention and a pause on the district court case.

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