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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OpenAI Says ChatGPT Misuse Is Users' Responsibility

By Emily Sawicki

OpenAI has asked a federal judge in Chicago to end an insurance company's suit alleging it practices law without a license, arguing the complaint should be directed toward individuals who misuse the company's ChatGPT bot to file faulty motions, and not the generative AI platform itself.

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2nd Circ. Pick Questioned At Hearing On Role As Trump Lawyer

By Courtney Bublé

Matthew Schwartz, a nominee for the Second Circuit, was questioned by Democratic senators Wednesday about whether his current job as the president's personal attorney while his nomination process is underway poses a conflict of interest.

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Bad AI Citation Sanction Slashed Amid 7th Circ. Guidance

By Hailey Konnath

An Indiana federal judge Wednesday rejected a magistrate judge's recommendation that an attorney be sanctioned $7,500 for including faulty, artificial intelligence-generated legal citations in a discovery brief, pointing to recent Seventh Circuit guidance and sanctioning him $2,000 instead.

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2 Fla. County Courts Requiring AI Disclosure In Court Filings

By Sarah Martinson

Two Florida circuit courts in Miami-Dade and Broward counties are requiring attorneys and self-represented litigants to disclose when they use generative text tools to prepare their court filings and to certify they checked the generated content for accuracy.

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Hagens Berman Says Apple Smear Job Can't Stop Withdrawal

By Bonnie Eslinger

Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP urged a California federal judge to allow one of its named plaintiffs to withdraw from an Apple iCloud antitrust case, saying Apple Inc.'s filed opposition is rife with "misdirection and ad hominem" attacks and not about the merits of the dispute but "smearing opposing counsel."

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Atty Withdrawals Not Limited To Fee Conflicts, ABA Says

By Emily Sawicki

Lawyers whose clients fail to hold up their end of valid engagement agreements are clear to cease their representation, so long as certain criteria are met, according to the American Bar Association's ethics committee's latest guidance, published Wednesday.

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Comey Wants Arraignment Pushed For Dismissal Bid

By Phillip Bantz

Former FBI Director James Comey asked a North Carolina federal court Wednesday to postpone his arraignment on charges alleging he threatened President Donald Trump, telling a judge that he is preparing to seek to have the case thrown out on constitutional grounds.

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Mich. Supreme Court Mulls Remote Court Access Rules

By Susan Smiley

The Michigan Supreme Court held administrative hearings on Wednesday concerning several proposed amendments to Michigan court rules, including adding more specific guidelines for remote hearings, making language services free for civil cases, and allowing law students and recent law graduates to appear on behalf of indigent people in all Michigan courts.

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