Food manufacturing associations challenge Vermont’s GMO labeling law

Four major manufacturing associations are seeking to invalidate Vermont’s law requiring manufacturers to disclose on labels when their products have genetically modified organisms. The Burlington Free Press reported that the groups filed a lawsuit late Thursday in Vermont federal district court. The Grocery Manufacturers Association the Snack Food Association, the…

Jun 13, 2014 7:46 PM CDT

POM Wonderful may sue over competitor’s juice label, despite FDA regulation, SCOTUS rules

POM Wonderful may challenge the labeling of a competitor’s juice product as false advertising, even though the label is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote the unanimous opinion (PDF) for eight members of the court; Justice Stephen G.…

Jun 12, 2014 2:56 PM CDT

$10.1B verdict against maker of light cigarettes in 2003 is resurrected and appealed

A St. Louis lawyer who succeeded in getting an Illinois appeals court to reinstate a $10.1 billion verdict against a maker of light cigarettes is fighting to preserve the judgment. Lawyer Stephen Tillery’s $10.1 billion verdict against Philip Morris in 2003 was a record amount in Illinois, the Chicago Tribune…

Jun 10, 2014 1:48 PM CDT

Law firm websites need to step up their game for Google | Dodging spammers while using autoreply

Law firm websites that focus on keywords rather than quality content are now losing the SEO battle, the Colorado Bar Association’s SOLO in COLO writes. New Google algorithms mean that firms need to publish original, meaningful content on a regular basis. “Law-firm sites that regularly showed up on page one…

Jun 6, 2014 1:30 PM CDT

Consulting the NBA’s constitution | Big lawsuit over gift cards | Experience and lawyer discipline

Donald Sterling, the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, was suspended for life from the NBA on Tuesday over recorded racist remarks that were made public. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver stated that he would ask the NBA Board of Governors to force a sale of the Clippers. Tuesday was the…

May 2, 2014 1:30 PM CDT

Scalia uses ‘Ministry of Truth’ example from Orwell book as SCOTUS mulls Ohio law on political lies

The U.S. Supreme Court is only being asked to decide whether an anti-abortion group has standing in federal district court to challenge an Ohio law that criminalizes political lies. But members of the nation’s top court on Tuesday couldn’t resist offering a preview of what they think about the constitutionality…

Apr 23, 2014 4:05 PM CDT

Supremes appear skeptical of Coca-Cola claim it can’t be sued over juice label blessed by FDA

Grilled by justices of the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, a lawyer for Coca-Cola Co. insisted a competitor’s false advertising suit over a juice label should be banned because the label complies with a federal agency’s regulations. But the nation’s top court appeared skeptical of this argument, amidst banter about…

Apr 22, 2014 1:10 PM CDT

Buying a General Mills product eliminates the right to sue, according to online legal terms

General Mills is requiring arbitration of legal disputes in a policy that got tougher after an adverse ruling and a newspaper inquiry. In language “quietly added” to its website, General Mills said anyone who prints a digital coupon for its products, participates in its contests, or simply joins its online…

Apr 17, 2014 3:14 PM CDT

$9B in punitives awarded in Actos drug case; jurors deliberated less than two hours

The battle between plaintiffs lawyer Mark Lanier and the makers of the Actos diabetes drug isn’t over yet. Federal jurors in Louisiana awarded $9 billion in punitive damages on Monday in Lanier’s suit claiming Japanese drugmaker Takeda Pharmaceutical and its American marketing partner Eli Lilly & Co. concealed the cancer…

Apr 8, 2014 5:32 PM CDT

White House lawyers reportedly protest selfie with Obama used for promotional purposes

White House lawyers reportedly protested to Samsung after the company promoted a baseball slugger’s selfie with President Obama. Senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer mentioned the incident on “Face the Nation” on Sunday, the Washington Post reports at Morning Mix. “We’ve had conversations with Samsung about this and expressed our concerns,” he…

Apr 7, 2014 12:32 PM CDT

Suit over Lululemon’s sheer yoga pants should be dismissed, federal judge says in draft decision

A federal judge in Manhattan has released a draft decision that recommends dismissal of a shareholder suit against Lululemon for allegedly making false statements about the quality of its yoga pants. U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest of Manhattan released the draft decision on Friday, Reuters reports. She tentatively ruled against…

Apr 4, 2014 3:34 PM CDT

Blog offers immigration help to Nigella Lawson | Celeb podcaster fights patent troll

It was reported by The Daily Mail and other news outlets this week that celebrity chef Nigella Lawson was turned away from boarding a Los Angeles-bound flight from London. A U.S. embassy spokeswoman would not tell CNN why Lawson had been stopped. At Lifted Lamp, the law firm Benach Ragland…

Apr 4, 2014 1:30 PM CDT

Alternative rocker’s crusade against lyric websites highlights copyright violations

Apr 1, 2014 9:40 AM CDT

Ad poking fun at Pistorius murder trial sparks protests

An advertisement in Rupert Murdoch’s British tabloid The Sunday Sun poking fun at the trial of Oscar Pistorius was so over-the-top and beneath good taste that the U.K’s Advertisement Standards Authority ordered it yanked immediately, The Guardian reports. The ad, created by cheeky Irish bookmakers Paddy Power—one company official’s title…

Mar 21, 2014 9:48 PM CDT

Infomercial pitchman Kevin Trudeau gets 10 years in criminal contempt case over diet-book claims

Showing no sympathy for the current situation of a television infomercial pitchman said to have earned—and lost—some $37 million as a result of diet-book sales and other ventures, a federal judge in Chicago on Monday blasted Kevin Trudeau and sentenced him to 10 years in prison for criminal contempt. Described…

Mar 18, 2014 7:00 PM CDT