Washington v. McDonald’s USA, LLC, No. 4:21-cv-00367 (N.D. Ohio Feb. 16, 2021) — Herbert Washington, once one of McDonald’s largest Black franchisee owners, filed suit in the District Court for the Northern District of Ohio against the international, fast-food giant based on its alleged pattern of racial discrimination and retaliation against him and other Black franchisees. Mr. Washington now joins two-hundred thirty-eight (238) other current and former Black franchisees who recently brought class action lawsuits…

Federal courts continue to demonstrate lacking patience for nationwide product labeling class actions premised on purported label misstatements regarding the sourcing of vanilla flavoring. Recently, food retailer Topco Associates successfully moved to dismiss a class action lawsuit in the Southern District of New York alleging that the labeling on its Vanilla Almondmilk misled customers to believe that the vanilla flavor is sourced from natural vanilla bean extract, rather than artificial and synthetically produced flavors such…

As we anticipated back in May, there has been a significant increase in litigation relating to business interruption insurance coverage for losses attributable to COVID-19 restrictions. Restaurant policyholders, in particular, have been at the forefront of raising these disputes. These cases have mainly centered on the applicability of two common provisions in insurance policies: (i) Business Income Coverage provisions and (ii) Virus or Micro-organism Coverage exclusions. Most business income coverage provisions provide that coverage…

On Monday, October, 19, 2020, Northern District of Illinois Judge Virginia M. Kendall denied three motions to dismiss a putative class action alleging that the nation’s leading turkey suppliers—including Butterball, Cargill, House of Raeford, Tyson, and Perdue—engaged in a conspiracy to fix the prices of turkey sold in the United States over a seven year period.  [1]…

As the Bilzin Sumberg team previously reported in June 2020, the Department of Justice (DOJ) indicted four executives from Pilgrim’s Pride and Claxton Poultry for their participation in a conspiracy to fix prices and rig bids of broiler chicken products. That indictment alleged that from at least 2012 through at least 2017, Pilgrim’s, Claxton, and at least five other unnamed chicken suppliers participated in a conspiracy to exchange confidential pricing information and rig bids to…

Earlier this month, the Attorney General’s Office of the State of New York filed a lawsuit  in New York Supreme Court against Hillandale Farms alleging that the company gouged egg prices during the COVID-19 pandemic. The State’s Petition, based on alleged violations of New York’s General Business and Executive Laws, contends that Hillandale, one of the nation’s largest producers and wholesale suppliers of eggs, “increased its prices for eggs to levels double, triple, and…

On June 8, 2020, Judge Katherine Polk Failla in the Southern District of New York dismissed a putative class action against TGI Friday’s (“Friday’s”) for alleged deceptive advertising. The Plaintiff claimed the labeling of Friday’s “Sour Cream & Onion Potato Skins” chips is misleading because it led her to believe the snack contained real potato skins and was thus a healthier option than most chips. According to the Plaintiff, she—and the members of the putative…