Biz Court: Firing an owner doesn’t end membership or voting rights

Summary: Lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan Plaintiffs seek at least $75,000 in damages and attorney fees Taylor Farms issued voluntary recall of iceberg lettuce on July 17 A Michigan couple has sued Taco Bell and Taylor Farms in federal court after they recently contracted cyclosporiasis, alleging the companies are responsible for them contracting the parasitic illness after eating shredded iceberg lettuce from a restaurant location in Durand. Cyclosporiasis is a parasitic illness. The most common symptom is frequent, watery and explosive diarrhea. The infections have been linked to iceberg lettuce in five states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The lawsuit, filed July 17 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, accuses Taylor Farms of not taking adequate food safety steps to prevent contamination by fecal matter that can lead to Cyclospora contamination. The company also should have known about the risk because of a 2013 Cyclospora outbreak and a 2024 E. coli outbreak, both associated with Taylor Farms produce, the case claims. The plaintiffs are residents of Durand, in Shiawassee County, according to the lawsuit. The complaint alleges Taco Bell also bears responsibility for the illnesses because the company has control over the restaurant's food safety standards, including how it is stored and prepared, and suppliers it uses. The filing also accuses Taco Bell of continuing to sell contaminated produce until the company removed iceberg lettuce from some restaurants during investigation of the Cyclospora outbreak. Taylor Farms issued a voluntary recall July 17 of iceberg lettuce products. Ryan Osterholm, a partner at the Minnesota-based firm OFT representing the plaintiffs, said the goal of the litigation is to help shed light on how this outbreak unfolded to reduce the chance another will happen. He said his firm represents more than 100 clients in Michigan who have gotten sick with cyclosporiasis, though lawsuits have not been filed in all those instances. Cases have now been reported in 70 of Michigan's 82 counties, the state health department said. Officials said the state's total number of cyclosporiasis cases had reached more than 7,600 by Thursday. Michigan and Ohio appear to be leading the national outbreak, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which said earlier this week has received reports of more than 4,100 lab-confirmed cases of the illness and knows of more than 7,400 cases that are not lab-confirmed. The case asks for damages of at least $75,000 and other costs, interest and attorney fees. The lawsuit does not say whether the plaintiffs may have eaten lettuce from other sources that also use Taylor Farms as a supplier. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said as of July 19, the agency had not confirmed any positive results for samples of Taylor Farms lettuce tested for Cyclospora. An earlier test sample had yielded a false positive result, according to the USDA.

Summary: Judge Rukhsanah Singh questions plaintiffs' expert evidence Approximately 69,000 cases consolidated in New Jersey federal court J&J denies talc caused ovarian cancer, stopped U.S. sales in 2020   A federal judge cast doubt on July 22 on claims by approximately 69,000 people alleging that Johnson & Johnson's baby powder and other talc products caused ovarian cancer, saying plaintiffs must provide more specific evidence or risk having their lawsuits dismissed. U.S. Magistrate Judge Rukhsanah Singh in Trenton, New Jersey, said that recent testimony by two of the plaintiffs' experts raised doubts about whether any plaintiffs can provide evidence admissible in court "that talcum powder use specifically caused her ovarian cancer." The two experts, Judith Wolf and Daniel Clarke-Pearson, testified in May in preparation for a set of six "bellwether," or test, trials for the thousands of cases that have been consolidated in New Jersey's federal court. Verdicts in bellwether trials are used to assess the potential value of remaining claims and guide settlement talks. J&J has denied the allegations that its talc products caused cancer, saying that talc was safe and did not contain asbestos. A spokesperson for the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did a lead attorney for the plaintiffs. Wolf and Clarke-Pearson said they could not completely rule out other possible causes of the plaintiffs' ovarian cancer, according to Singh's opinion. "If such uncertainty is indeed reality, then how can any plaintiff here meet her burden on the merits of her claim?" Singh wrote. Singh said that the debate over causation would not lead to "instant dismissal" of the thousands of cases in the consolidated federal litigation. The judge ordered plaintiffs to respond by Nov. 19, and to explain why their case should not be dismissed over the failure to provide an admissible expert opinion that J&J talc caused their specific cancer. In addition to the consolidated federal court cases, J&J also faces lawsuits in state courts around the U.S. J&J has won some of the recent trials in state courts, but juries ⁠have awarded large verdicts for plaintiffs in other cases. The litigation resumed in March 2025, after being put on hold for more than three years during J&J's repeated failed attempts to resolve the lawsuits through a shell company's bankruptcy. J&J stopped selling talc-based baby powder in the U.S. in 2020, switching to a cornstarch product.

Summary: Roger Rogoff sued Trump over alleged unlawful removal Rogoff appointed by Western District of Washington judges Justice Department defends president's firing authority The top federal prosecutor in Seattle who was fired by President Donald Trump last week sued the administration on July 21, in a case testing the president's authority to remove U.S. attorneys appointed by judges to fill vacancies. Roger Rogoff’s lawsuit, filed in the federal court in Seattle, said Trump unlawfully removed him as the court-appointed U.S. attorney in the Western District of Washington immediately after he took office on July 15. The lawsuit contends that federal law allows a court-appointed U.S. attorney to serve until the position is filled by a presidential nominee confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Rogoff asked the court to declare his firing invalid and rule that he remains the U.S. attorney for the district until a Senate-confirmed successor takes office. Trump last week removed Rogoff, a former federal prosecutor and state court judge, one hour after the chief judge in the Western District of Washington swore him in as the district's new U.S. attorney. “The President’s actions violate the law, and they ignore the protections of the Constitution of the United States,” Rogoff said in a statement. “His removal of me, like his removal of other court-appointed U.S. Attorneys across the country, is illegal and cannot stand.” The Justice Department in a statement said the district court "did not coordinate with DOJ on this selection. Consistent with other firings of this type, this is wholly within the President’s authority." Rogoff was appointed after the U.S. attorney’s office's top post had remained vacant without a Senate-confirmed nominee. Rogoff is an attorney at the law firm Osborn Machler & Neff. Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a social media post last week that Trump had fired Rogoff. "District court judges can appoint a temporary U.S. Attorney, and POTUS can fire them," Blanche said.