Ill. Judge Tosses 'Half-Baked' Nestle Chocolate Labeling Suit

By Lauraann Wood

A Nestle consumer cannot pursue false labeling accusations over the "100% real chocolate" claim on the company's chocolate chip bags because her complaint is "half-baked" and contradicts the widespread understanding that chocolate is made from more than cacao bean-based ingredients, an Illinois federal judge said Tuesday.

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Dunkin' Stores Kept Disabled Staff Off Job, EEOC Says

By Carolyn Muyskens

Fifteen Dunkin' franchisees and their management company have been hit with a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint claiming employees with medical conditions or disabilities are forced to take unpaid leave until they can work without accommodations.

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Travelers Unit Hit With Bad Faith Suit Over $241M Jury Verdict

By Gianna Ferrarin

A Travelers unit recklessly disregarded its insured's interests in litigation that resulted in a $241 million verdict in favor of the family of a man who died while transporting dry ice for a Prairie Farms subsidiary, according to a complaint filed in Illinois federal court.

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AGs Put $10M Price Tag On Beating Kroger-Albertsons Merger

By Jared Foretek

The nine attorneys general who successfully sued to block Kroger's failed $24.6 billion acquisition of Albertsons requested over $10 million in attorney fees and litigation expenses Tuesday, arguing that the scale of the litigation and the more than $1 billion the grocery chains spent fighting it justified the amount.

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Judge Permanently Halts Counterfeit Modelo Beer Labels

By Elliot Weld

A Texas federal judge has granted judgment to Grupo Modelo and its U.S. licensee in a case brought against a company they accused of selling counterfeit beers and said he would permanently bar labels that copy their designs.

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Wolfgang Puck Gets A Chance To Exit Cookware Injury Suit

By Y. Peter Kang

A Florida appellate court on Wednesday reversed dueling trial court rulings in a suit over an allegedly defective Wolfgang Puck-branded pressure cooker, saying an evidentiary hearing is required to determine whether the celebrity chef and his company can be hauled into a Florida court.

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Ex-Chick-Fil-A Workers Say Taco Eatery Owes Them Jobs

By Matthew Santoni

Three former Chick-fil-A employees at Philadelphia International Airport say in a proposed class action in Pennsylvania state court that the airport's food services operator and the restaurant that replaced theirs failed to follow a local ordinance requiring that they be offered employment at the new establishment.

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Tyson Can't Get $1.62M Award Hiked In Factory Fire Dispute

By Mark Payne

An Irish reinsurer has to pay only a $1.62 million arbitral award issued to Tyson Foods for a fire at a Tyson plant in Alabama, a New York federal court said, ruling against Tyson's request for a $22.5 million payout. 

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Buyer Says Seller Undermined $58M Food Business Sale

By Jarek Rutz

A worldwide food importer and distributor has filed a lawsuit in the Delaware Chancery Court accusing a former business owner of selling his food distribution company for $58 million and then unlawfully undermining the business through deception, obstruction and direct competition.

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Wage Class Attys Get $254K Fee For Post, Smucker's Deal

By P.J. D'Annunzio

A Pennsylvania federal judge has signed off on a just over $254,000 fee request for Winebrake & Santillo LLC attorneys representing employees of Post Consumer Brands LLC and The J.M. Smucker Co. who alleged they were stiffed on overtime wages at a Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, manufacturing facility.

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Defunct Pizza Shop Beats Driver's OT Suit

By Irene Spezzamonte

A Connecticut federal judge has tossed a former pizza delivery driver's suit claiming he worked 100-hour workweeks without overtime, saying the worker didn't show that the now-defunct pizzeria he worked for was a covered enterprise under federal law or that he regularly made interstate deliveries.

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NY Tribe Can Control Its Water, Sanitation Program, Judge Says

By Joyce Hanson

A New York federal judge has ruled the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe can operate and maintain its own water and sanitation systems, rejecting the U.S. government's claim that federal law doesn't allow tribes to run those programs.

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Analysis

Wheeling & Appealing: April's Most Notable Oral Arguments

By Jeff Overley

April is the coolest month, at least for appellate aficionados, featuring numerous important arguments with famous litigants, including U.S. senators, delivery apps Grubhub and Uber Eats, impresario Sean "Diddy" Combs, prediction platforms Kalshi and Robinhood, and a political giant known as the Velvet Hammer.

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Monthly Merger Review Snapshot

By Bryan Koenig

The Justice Department allowed Live Nation to keep Ticketmaster while state attorneys general continue to sue, a $14 billion Boston Scientific deal drew Federal Trade Commission scrutiny, state enforcers challenged Nexstar's purchase of Tegna, and a threatened FTC challenge forced the abandonment of a laser eye surgery deal.

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Bondi Out As Attorney General After Contentious Time At DOJ

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump announced on Thursday Attorney General Pam Bondi will be leaving her post. 

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Goldstein Allowed To Move Out After Marriage Falls Apart

By Jared Foretek

A Maryland federal judge on Thursday allowed SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein to relocate for the duration of his home confinement, after Goldstein's attorneys said his marriage had fallen apart and it no longer "makes sense" for Goldstein and his wife to share a residence.

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Raskin Blasts DOJ Bid To Shield Attys From State Bar Probes

By Courtney Bublé

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said Thursday the U.S. Department of Justice's endeavor to preempt state bar investigations of department attorneys is a "get out of jail free" card.

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DLA Piper, Vax Refuser Reach Deal To End Religious Bias Suit

By Patrick Hoff

DLA Piper has struck a deal to wrap up a Christian former employee's lawsuit claiming he was fired for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine because of his religious beliefs, an Illinois federal judge said Thursday.

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Feds Say Habeas Ruling Could Spur More 'Illegal Orders'

By Jared Foretek

The Trump administration has asked the Fourth Circuit to reverse a district ruling that upheld a standing order from Maryland federal judges barring immediate removal or transfer of immigrant detainees, arguing the ruling sets a dangerous precedent for district court standing orders.

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Schneider Wallace Fights Uphill For Bigger Cut Of $75M Fees

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal magistrate judge appeared skeptical Thursday about Schneider Wallace Cottrell Kim LLP's bid to increase its cut of a $75.4 million fee award for representing plaintiffs in a $228.5 million Sutter Health antitrust deal, saying lead counsel Constantine Cannon LLP's allocation of $1.4 million to Schneider Wallace seems fair.

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Puerto Rico Bankruptcy Stymies Paul Weiss, ACLU Fee Bids

By Carolyn Muyskens

American Civil Liberties Union and Paul Weiss attorneys who successfully eased restrictions on voting by mail in Puerto Rico during the COVID-19 pandemic cannot collect fees for their work because they were discharged in Puerto Rico's bankruptcy proceeding, the First Circuit has ruled.

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Process Server ABC Legal Inks $2.5M Deal Over Cyber Breach

By Ben Adlin

Seattle-based ABC Legal Services LLC, which bills itself as the nation's largest network of legal process servers, would pay $2.5 million under a tentative deal to settle workers' putative class action claiming a 2024 cyberattack exposed their personal information, the plaintiffs told a Washington federal court Wednesday.

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Roundup

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

By Laura Stewart Liberty

The past week in London has seen data giant Sportrader face action from software company Altenar over alleged market abuse, Mexican billionaire Ricardo Pliego sue a man who allegedly defrauded him out of $415 million, and Warner Bros. bring a copyright claim against a YouTuber who leaked set footage of the upcoming Harry Potter series. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K. 

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