Short Circuit 417 | Settling with Spicy Chicken

About this episode

The episode discusses the complexities of litigation financing and a notable antitrust case involving a chicken lawsuit.

Litigation is a risky business. Borrowing tens of millions of dollars to win a lawsuit is even more risky. And it turns out makes settling a case especially difficult. Patrick Eckler, Chicago attorney and co-host of the Podium and Panel Podcast, rejoins us to detail a wild Seventh Circuit story about an antitrust chicken (and pork and beef) lawsuit that got a bit spicy. Anyone who has tried to settle a case will want to give a listen—and then to do exactly not what happened. Patrick also explains what litigation financing is and why it’s something to handle with extreme caution. Then IJ’s Bert Gall takes us down the aisles of your local Trader Joe’s. A store had an employee it wasn’t happy with. Turns out that she wasn’t happy with them either and went to the National Labor Relations Board. She won a couple rounds of unfair labor practice litigation and then the matter went to the Fifth Circuit. The panel’s majority sided with her by deferring to the NLRB’s legal and factual findings but the dissent had a lot of problems with how that went, including in light of the fall of Chevron deference. Fans of labor law, administrative law, and spicy tortilla chips (but not Two-Buck Chuck)…

People in this episode

Guest: Patrick Eckler

Topics covered

• litigation
• antitrust
• labor law
• administrative law
• settlement
• litigation financing

Keywords

• litigation
• settlement
• antitrust
• labor law
• NLRB
• Trader Joe's
• litigation financing
• Seventh Circuit
• Fifth Circuit
• Chevron deference

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: National Labor Relations Board, Trader Joe’s, Carina Ventures, Pilgrim’s Pride, Podium and Panel Podcast

Places: Chicago

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