On September 1, 2023, the California legislature passed Assembly Bill (“AB”) 418, the California Food Safety Act.
If the law is passed, then any person or entity will be prohibited from manufacturing or selling a food...more
On September 11, 2023, industry, government, and union representatives announced that they had reached a deal to remove a California referendum on the Fast Food Accountability and Standards (“FAST”) Recovery Act from the 2024...more
On August 15, 2023, a panel of judges for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit revived a class action lawsuit against Nestle regarding its “Premier White Morsels” Toll House product. In the opinion,...more
On August 9, 2023, the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) announced a direct final rule revoking certain uses of partially hydrogenated oils (“PHOs”) in food. The rule will go into effect on December 22, 2023. Any comments...more
On August 14, 2023, a panel of judges for the United State Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a published opinion affirming dismissal of two complaints alleging that food product labels advertising the amount of...more
On July 21, 2023, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court order denying Domino Pizza’s motion to compel arbitration in a putative class action brought by plaintiff Dominos truck...more
8/2/2023
/ Amazon ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Delivery Drivers ,
Dominos ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Exemptions ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Interstate Commerce ,
State Labor Laws
The Court of Appeal of the State of California recently held in Thai v. IBM, A165390, that employers are obligated to reimburse expenses incurred by employees working from home if those expenses are a consequence of the...more
On June 29, 2023, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously held in Groff v. DeJoy, No. 22-174, that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”) requires an employer that denies a religious accommodation...more
7/20/2023
/ Civil Rights Act ,
De Minimus Doctrine ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
FEHA ,
Groff v DeJoy ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Religious Discrimination ,
SCOTUS ,
Substantial Burden ,
Title VII ,
Undue Hardship ,
USPS
On July 6, 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) released an updated list of draft and final topics that the agency anticipates publishing guidance documents for by the end of December 2023....more
On June 27, 2023, the federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (“PWFA”) went into effect. The law requires employers with 15 or more workers to provide “reasonable accommodations” to a worker’s known limitations related to...more
On June 30, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced that it would be publishing a notice of proposed rulemaking on the use of consumer reviews and testimonials.
The proposed rule follows FTC’s November 2022...more
7/11/2023
/ Celebrity Endorsements ,
Endorsements ,
Fake Reviews ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Marketing ,
Misrepresentation ,
NPRM ,
Online Endorsements ,
Online Reviews ,
Proposed Rules ,
Social Media ,
Testimonial Statements ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
On June 1, 2023, a panel of judges for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that berry distributors were not liable as “client-employers” of agricultural workers. The plaintiff agricultural workers...more
On June 26, 2023, a panel of judges for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed an insurance company’s win over a restaurant group seeking insurance coverage for pandemic-related claims in Team 44...more
6/28/2023
/ Appeals ,
Business Closures ,
Business Interruption ,
Business Losses ,
Commercial Insurance Policies ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Denial of Insurance Coverage ,
Insurance Claims ,
Insurance Litigation ,
Policy Terms ,
Restaurant Industry
On June 14, 2023, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) announced that it was implementing a multi-step effort to strengthen the substantiation of animal-raising claims. Animal-raising claims are voluntary marketing...more
On May 1, 2023, a ban on single-use plastics went into effect for restaurants with permanent locations in unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. The ban was originally passed in April of 2022 by the Los Angeles County...more
On April 28, 2023, a panel of judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a lower court’s dismissal of a lawsuit against Kroger alleging that the company misleadingly labeled spreadable fruit products...more
On April 13, 2013, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced that it had sent a Notice of Penalty Offenses Concerning Substantiation of Product Claims and a Notice of Penalty Offenses Concerning Deceptive or Unfair...more
4/21/2023
/ Advertising ,
Endorsements ,
False Advertising ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Health Claims ,
Influencers ,
Marketing ,
Online Endorsements ,
Statutory Penalties ,
Testimonial Statements ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
On April 7, 2023, the City of Los Angeles (the “City”) released a revised “LA Al Fresco Ordinance,” to govern outdoor dining. The City had previously released a February 2023 proposed ordinance that was met with intense...more
On January 13, 2023, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Shelleyanne Chang ruled that implementation of the Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act (“FAST Act”) should remain on hold pending the Secretary of State’s...more
California retail businesses must prepare to open employee-only restrooms to members of the public to accommodate medical conditions including Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, other inflammatory bowel disease, and...more
On December 30, 2022, Judge Shelleyanne Chang of the Superior Court of Sacramento issued a temporary restraining order to block adoption of the FAST Act, which was due to take effect on January 1.
The Save Local...more
In response to recent Supreme Court decisions and laws in other states outlawing abortion, California passed a number of new laws designed to protect reproductive rights in the state. These include bills to prohibit a person...more
12/29/2022
/ Abortion ,
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employee Privacy Rights ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
New Legislation ,
Reproductive Discrimination ,
State Labor Laws
California law already requires hotels to provide training to their staff on how to recognize human trafficking and how to report suspected trafficking to either law enforcement or the National Human Trafficking Hotline....more
On January 1, 2023, Assembly Bill (“AB”) 676 will go into effect, significantly amending the California Franchise Relations Act and Franchise Investment Law. The provisions of AB 676 will only apply to franchise agreements...more
California‘s FAST Recovery Act will likely be placed on hold until November 2024.
The Save Local Restaurants coalition, a group composed of restaurant industry advocates, filed a voter referendum on September 7, 2022 to...more