Food & Beverage

  • October 18, 2024

    Law360 MVP Awards Go To Top Attys From 74 Firms

    The attorneys chosen as Law360's 2024 MVPs have distinguished themselves from their peers by securing hard-earned successes in high-stakes litigation, complex global matters and record-breaking deals.

  • October 18, 2024

    Fritos Didn't Defame In Flamin' Hot Cheetos Feud, Judge Told

    An attorney for Frito-Lay Inc. on Friday urged a California federal judge to dismiss a former employee's suit claiming he invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos and had his livelihood destroyed when the company disavowed his story, saying it's not inherently defamatory to disagree about the snack's origins.

  • October 18, 2024

    False Ad Suit Trimmed Over 'Non-Drowsy' Albertsons Meds

    An Illinois federal judge on Thursday refused to strike class claims that Albertsons markets and sells cough medicine labeled as "non-drowsy" that does in fact cause drowsiness, but threw out breach of warranty claims because the lead plaintiff failed to give the company adequate notice before filing suit.

  • October 18, 2024

    Chancery Calls For Status Quo Order In Del Monte Loan Suit

    A Delaware vice chancellor has given the nod for a hold-the-status quo order sought by a collateral agent accusing Del Monte Foods Inc. officials of carrying out a corporate restructuring and "lien-stripping" said to have jeopardized lender claims under a $725 million term loan agreement.

  • October 18, 2024

    Grocery Co. Sued Over 'Naturally Flavored' Cereal Bars Label

    North Carolina-based supermarket chain Harris Teeter was hit with a proposed class action alleging its fruit-flavored cereal bars aren't "naturally flavored" like the packaging claims, but instead contain a flavoring that is derived from a petroleum substrate.

  • October 18, 2024

    Chamber Of Commerce Seeks Stay Of H-2A Rule For Harvest

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce pushed a Mississippi federal court to stay a policy allowing H-2A migrant farmworkers to organize, saying its members can't risk being penalized under the policy while the Chamber challenges the rule's legality.

  • October 18, 2024

    Campbell's Health Plan Can't Charge Tobacco Fee, Suit Says

    Campbell Soup Co. is violating federal benefits law by making workers who use tobacco pay more for health insurance because it doesn't offer a wellness program or comparable alternative, according to a proposed class action in New Jersey federal court.

  • October 18, 2024

    Hemp Industry Group Sues Louisiana Officials Over New Law

    Louisiana hemp interests on Friday filed a federal lawsuit against the governor and attorney general challenging a new state law meant to rein in intoxicating hemp products, alleging the new policy runs afoul of the federal law that legalized hemp nationally.

  • October 18, 2024

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

    This past week in London has seen Professor Cat Jarman, Earl Spencer's new girlfriend, sue his ex-wife, Bitcoin fraudster Craig Wright file a £911 billion ($1.18 trillion) claim against BTC Core, journalist Oliver Kamm hit novelist Ros Barber with a defamation claim, and a barrister at Cloisters face a claim from a former client. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • October 18, 2024

    Pizzeria, Driver's Biz Expense Deal Approved On 2nd Try

    A pizzeria and a former delivery driver for the business secured court approval for a settlement of the worker's wage suit over business expense reimbursements, as a Georgia federal judge found the deal passed muster now that it no longer involved "impermissible and unfair concessions."

  • October 18, 2024

    Atty Sanctioned For 'Indifference' In Tastykake Co. Bias Suit

    An attorney's "indifference" to court orders and deadlines in a Black Muslim worker's wage and discrimination suit against the maker of Tastykake warrants $30,000 in sanctions, a Pennsylvania federal judge ruled, warning that more serious consequences might come.

  • October 17, 2024

    Miami Bar's Security Failed To Stop Mass Shooting, Suit Says

    The estate of a man killed in a mass shooting at a Miami-area martini bar has sued the companies that handled the security of the shopping center, in addition to real estate company Avison Young, claiming they were negligent in keeping the area safe.

  • October 17, 2024

    Burford Again Loses Fight Against Meat Price-Fixing Deal

    An Illinois federal judge on Thursday refused for a second time to let a Burford Capital LLC unit unbind itself from a global settlement Pilgrim's Pride and Sysco entered to resolve chicken, pork and beef price-fixing claims.

  • October 17, 2024

    Treasury Unit Says Booze Maker Violated N. Korea Sanctions

    The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control said Thursday that it has reached an $860,000 settlement with a Vietnam-based alcoholic beverage company over its alleged role in allowing U.S. financial institutions to process $1.1 million in payments to North Korea, violating sanctions regulations.

  • October 17, 2024

    Justices Urged To Fix 'Novel Misreading' Of IP Safe Harbor

    Edwards Lifesciences is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to rein in what's covered under a drug-development safe harbor to avoid patent infringement, saying the Federal Circuit wrongfully expanded it in a "novel misreading" of the law.

  • October 17, 2024

    Man Says He Was Forced From Security Job For Being 'Too Old'

    Food, janitorial and security service provider Blackstone Consulting Inc. has been sued in Georgia federal court by a former employee who alleges the company engaged in a "relentless campaign of age-based harassment and disparate treatment" against him before demoting him, significantly decreasing his pay and effectively forcing him to resign.

  • October 17, 2024

    $20B Verizon-Frontier Deal Faces Scrutiny, And Other Rumors

    A growing list of Frontier Communications' largest shareholders are concerned about its planned $20 billion takeover by Verizon Communications, and a group of former professional athletes are in talks to buy a stake in the NFL's Buffalo Bills. Here, Law360 breaks down these and other notable rumors from the past week.

  • October 17, 2024

    Restaurant Says Toast Refusing To Update Bank Info

    A Boston restaurant says it's struggling to stay afloat because point-of-sale provider Toast Inc. won't update its banking information and is sitting on more than $200,000 in revenue, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in Massachusetts state court.

  • October 17, 2024

    Restaurant Barred From Intimidating Workers In FLSA Dispute

    A Connecticut federal judge ordered a restaurant group and its owners not to retaliate against workers who speak to the U.S. Department of Labor during a Fair Labor Standards Act investigation, issuing an injunction following the DOL's allegations that two owners threatened to kill an ex-worker for assisting the agency.

  • October 16, 2024

    H2-A Workers Allegedly Forced To Work In Potato Warehouses

    Three Mexican citizens filed a proposed collective action in Colorado federal court Tuesday alleging a company lured them to work in the U.S. under guest worker visas with false promises, then trafficked them into forced labor in Colorado potato warehouses.

  • October 16, 2024

    Rule Will Boost Alaskan Native Reps On Subsistence Board

    The federal government on Wednesday announced a final rule that will strengthen Alaskan Indigenous representation on the Federal Subsistence Board by, for the first time, adding members nominated by the tribes that will be impacted by the board's decisions on the state's land and waters.

  • October 16, 2024

    Judge Orders 'Starbuds' Co. To Grind Down Logo And Name

    A federal judge in Manhattan has ordered a cannabis food truck to destroy all of its "Starbuds" logos, after siding with coffee giant Starbucks Corp. in a copyright infringement lawsuit.

  • October 16, 2024

    Utah Groups Can't Scrap Corporate Transparency, US Says

    A Utah federal court hasn't seen sufficient evidence to block the Corporate Transparency Act's disclosure requirements in presentations by an off-the-grid community, an online meat market and a trade group for cattle producers that have sued over the statute, the federal government said.

  • October 16, 2024

    FTC Says Customers Must Be Able To 'Click To Cancel'

    Companies will now be required to allow customers to ditch their subscriptions with a single click after the Federal Trade Commission finalized its new "click to cancel" rule, which has been years in the making.

  • October 16, 2024

    Nerds, Laffy Taffy Maker Hit With Genetic Info Privacy Claims

    The Illinois-based company behind popular candies such as Nerds, Laffy Taffy and SweeTarts probes job applicants' medical histories in violation of their genetic information privacy rights, according to a proposed class lawsuit filed Tuesday in Illinois state court.

Expert Analysis

  • How Justices Upended The Administrative Procedure Act

    Author Photo

    In its recent Loper Bright, Corner Post and Jarkesy decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court fundamentally changed the Administrative Procedure Act in ways that undermine Congress and the executive branch, shift power to the judiciary, curtail public and business input, and create great uncertainty, say Alene Taber and Beth Hummer at Hanson Bridgett.

  • Classwide Calculations May Get Price Premium Damages Wrong

    Author Photo

    In many consumer class actions, plaintiffs assert that they overpaid for a product because of a misrepresented or defective product feature, and that a single price premium estimate can be applied classwide — but failure to account for differences in price premiums across a putative class may lead to improper damage awards, say economists at Ankura Consulting.

  • Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Is My Counterclaim Bound To Fall?

    Author Photo

    A Pennsylvania federal court’s recent dismissal of the defendants’ counterclaims in Morgan v. Noss should remind attorneys to avoid the temptation to repackage a claim’s facts and law into a mirror-image counterclaim, as this approach will often result in a waste of time and resources, says Matthew Selmasska at Kaufman Dolowich.

  • Insurance Lessons From 11th Circ. Ruling On Policy Grammar

    Author Photo

    The Eleventh Circuit's recent decision in ECB v. Chubb Insurance, holding that missing punctuation didn't change the clear meaning of a professional services policy, offers policyholder takeaways about the uncertainty that can arise when courts interpret insurance policy language based on obscure grammatical canons, say Hugh Lumpkin and Garrett Nemeroff at Reed Smith.

  • Series

    Playing Dungeons & Dragons Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Playing Dungeons & Dragons – a tabletop role-playing game – helped pave the way for my legal career by providing me with foundational skills such as persuasion and team building, says Derrick Carman at Robins Kaplan.

  • Mercon Coffee Ch. 11 Ruling Shows Insider Releases' Limits

    Author Photo

    A New York bankruptcy court’s recent ruling in Mercon Coffee’s Chapter 11 case highlights the stringent requirements for retention-related transfers to insiders, even in cases where no creditor has objected, say Robert Klyman and Scott Shelley at DLA Piper.

  • Illinois BIPA Reform Offers Welcome Relief To Businesses

    Author Photo

    Illinois' recent amendment to its Biometric Information Privacy Act limits the number of violations and damages a plaintiff can claim — a crucial step in shielding businesses from unintended legal consequences, including litigation risk and compliance costs, say attorneys at Taft.

  • Gilead Drug Ruling Creates Corporate Governance Dilemma

    Author Photo

    If upheld, a California state appellate court's decision — finding that Gilead is liable for delaying commercialization of a safer HIV drug to maximize profits on another drug — threatens to undermine long-standing rules of corporate law and exposes companies to liability for decisions based on sound business judgment, says Shireen Barday at Pallas.

  • Rebuttal

    Cancer Research Org. Is Right To Avoid Corporate Influence

    Author Photo

    While a previous Law360 guest article criticizes the International Agency for Research on Cancer's processes, its reliance on peer-reviewed literature is proper and its refusal to allow corporate influence is sound science, say Lance Oliver and Ridge Mazingo at Motley Rice.

  • How Courts' Differing Views On Standing Affect PFAS Claims

    Author Photo

    Two recent opinions from New York federal courts — in Lurenz v. Coca-Cola, and Winans v. Ornua Foods North America — illustrate how pivotal the differing views on standing held by different courts will be for product liability litigation involving per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, particularly consumer claims, say attorneys at Hollingsworth.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Rulings On Hyperlinked Documents

    Author Photo

    Recent rulings show that counsel should engage in early discussions with clients regarding the potential of hyperlinked documents in electronically stored information, which will allow for more deliberate negotiation of any agreements regarding the scope of discovery, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Loper Bright Limits Federal Agencies' Ability To Alter Course

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to dismantle Chevron deference also effectively overrules its 2005 decision in National Cable & Telecommunications Association v. Brand X, greatly diminishing agencies' ability to change regulatory course from one administration to the next, says Steven Gordon at Holland & Knight.

  • Defamation Suit Tests Lanham Act's Reach With Influencers

    Author Photo

    Recently filed in the Northern District of Texas, Prime Hydration v. Garcia, alleging defamation and Lanham Act violations based on the defendant's social media statements about the beverage brand, allows Texas courts and the Fifth Circuit to take the lead in interpreting the act as it applies to influencers, says attorney Susan Jorgensen.

  • Addressing The Growing Hazards Of Mass Arbitration

    Author Photo

    Though retail companies typically include arbitration provisions in their terms of service, the recent trend of costly mass arbitrations filed by plaintiffs may cause businesses to rethink this conventional wisdom, say attorneys at BCLP.

  • Series

    Teaching Scuba Diving Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    As a master scuba instructor, I’ve learned how to prepare for the unexpected, overcome fears and practice patience, and each of these skills – among the many others I’ve developed – has profoundly enhanced my work as a lawyer, says Ron Raether at Troutman Pepper.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Food & Beverage archive.
Hello! I'm Law360's automated support bot.

How can I help you today?

For example, you can type:
  • I forgot my password
  • I took a free trial but didn't get a verification email
  • How do I sign up for a newsletter?
Ask a question!