Starbucks Investors Allege $227.5M In Buyback Losses

By Ben Adlin

Two Starbucks shareholders have brought a derivative suit in Washington federal court accusing the company's leadership of hyping its performance in the U.S. and China even as sales declined, and of losing $227.5 million buying back its own stock at inflated prices. 

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Judge Reduces $38.9M Beyond Meat TM Verdict

By Carolyn Muyskens

A Massachusetts judge slashed a $38.9 million trademark infringement verdict against Beyond Meat Inc. for an advertising campaign that used the slogan "Great Taste, Plant Based" after finding that the trademark owner failed to prove all of its damages.

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Teddy's Says Buc-ee's TM Campaign Violates Antitrust Law

By Lauren Berg

Teddy's Market has escalated its counterclaims against Buc-ee's in Georgia federal court with allegations of antitrust violations, claiming the travel-center chain uses trademark infringement lawsuits to unlawfully expand its control over cartoon-animal branding in the convenience store industry.

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Kraft Heinz Says Insurers Won't Cover Processed Food Suits

By Danielle Ferguson

Chubb units and Liberty Mutual are wrongfully refusing to cover Kraft Heinz's defense costs for several lawsuits blaming the food company's "ultra-processed foods" for consumers' diabetes or fatty liver disease diagnoses, costing the company millions of dollars, Kraft Heinz said in a Pennsylvania state court complaint.

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Mass. Judge Trims Law Student's Everclear 'Fireball' Burn Suit

By Jonathan Capriel

A Massachusetts federal judge trimmed a Boston University student's lawsuit seeking to hold the spirits company behind Everclear liable for the "life-altering burns" she suffered when its 190-proof grain alcohol allegedly caused a fireball at a frat party.

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Brief

Malaysia, Indonesia Dumping Fatty Acids, Commerce Finds

By Dylan Moroses

The U.S. Department of Commerce found that certain fatty acids imported from Malaysia and Indonesia have been sold at less than fair value, according to notices published Monday. 

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Costco Says It Didn't Say 'Zero Heavy Metals' In Protein Powder

By Jonathan Capriel

"Good, clean nutrition" doesn't actually mean "free of lead," Costco Wholesale Corp. told a Washington federal court on Friday as it pushed for dismissal of a proposed class action claiming its Orgain protein powders contained dangerous levels of toxic heavy metals.

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Target Says It Had No Duty To Investigate Formula For Taint

By Mike Curley

Target Corp. is again urging a Washington federal court to throw out a couple's claims that it sold tainted baby formula that gave their child infant botulism, saying it's protected by state law and had no duty to independently investigate its suppliers.

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Ex-NJ Utility Worker Gets 3 Years For False Water Reports

By Carla Baranauckas

A former employee of the water utility for Trenton, New Jersey, was sentenced to three years in state prison after admitting he falsified water testing records and failed to collect required samples while working for the public utility, New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said Monday.

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FedEx Seeks High Court Review Of 6th Circ. Pension Ruling

By Katherine Smith

FedEx has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Sixth Circuit's decision to revive two proposed class actions alleging Kellogg's and FedEx's outdated actuarial assumptions shortchanged joint-and-survivor benefits for retirees, claiming the circuit court's "erroneous" interpretation of federal benefits law warrants high court review.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court this past week dismissed a challenge to Alteryx Inc.'s $4.4 billion take-private sale, resolved a fight over the removal of a security technology company's director and declined to let Empery Digital Inc. immediately appeal a proxy contest ruling.

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Yardbird Southern Dining Chain Hits Ch. 11 With $50M Debt

By Vince Sullivan

Elevated casual dining chain Yardbird Group LLC filed for Chapter 11 protection Monday in Delaware, listing $25 million of secured debt obligations and another $25 million in unsecured claims as it pursues a sale of its business.

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Sidley Lands Life Sciences Pair From King & Spalding

By Rose Krebs

Sidley Austin LLP announced Monday that it has brought on two attorneys from King & Spalding LLP to bolster its capacity to handle life sciences-related litigation and regulatory matters involving the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

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Legal Deserts: Millions Across America Struggle To Access Lawyers

Tens of millions of Americans live in towns and counties across the nation with limited or no access to legal services. By one estimate, at least a third of the nation's counties qualify as a "legal desert," having only one or no attorney per 1,000 residents. Roughly 24 million Americans reside in these counties.

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Greenberg Traurig Hit With Action Over Client Data Breach

By Matt Perez

A proposed class of Greenberg Traurig LLP clients said the New York law firm failed to secure their personal data prior to a preventable data breach and delayed notifying clients of the breach for two weeks, in an action filed over the weekend in New York federal court seeking injunctive and other equitable relief to protect client data.

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Tesla Atty Misled Witness Days Before Bias Trial, Judge Hears

By Dorothy Atkins

The California Civil Rights Department asked a California judge for a protective order Monday on the first day of a bench trial over claims Tesla Inc. fostered racism at its Fremont factory, after a witness testified that an in-house Tesla attorney recently called him and misled him into believing he represented the agency.

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New Calif. Law Bars Legal Funders From Influencing Litigation

By Jack Karp

Corporate investors and litigation funders will be barred from influencing litigation strategy in California under a new bill signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

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Q&A

She Has A Point: Fenwick's Jessica Kaempf

By Theresa Schliep

Jessica Kaempf of Fenwick & West LLP is a pragmatic yet tenacious attorney whose representation of her clients has earned her plaudits from Kathi Vidal of Winston Taylor, who praised Kaempf as part of a Law360 series celebrating women litigators.

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$1.35M Class Deal Reached Over Botched Calif. Bar Exam

By Emily Johnson

Takers of the February 2025 California bar exam that was marred by technical failures have agreed to settle their proposed class action against the proctor for $1.35 million, while the company also agreed to complete quality checks before proctoring future bar examinations, according to a motion seeking preliminary approval in federal court.

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Ex-Prosecutor Escapes Jan. 6 Atty's Defamation Suit

By Jared Foretek

Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann on Monday won judgment on the pleadings in a defamation case brought by attorney Stefan Passantino, who had represented Cassidy Hutchinson, after Passantino alleged Weissmann had defamed him when saying he'd "coached" Hutchinson "to lie" to the January 6th Select Committee.

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