Latest Restaurant Headlines

All the headlines from our Restaurant Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Mass. Man Faces Insurance Fraud Charges Over Broken Tooth Claims

Mar 4 2009 // A Massachusetts man has been arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court in connection with allegedly submitting false dental injury reports to insurance companies in order to receive cash settlements.Tod Schaffer, 42, is charged...

Defense Act Bars Suits Against Blackwater

Feb 22 2009 // The survivors of four Blackwater Worldwide contractors killed in a grisly ambush in Iraq five years ago have suffered another setback in their legal battle with the company.A federal administrative law judge in North...

Judge: Defense Insurance Act Bars Suits Against Subcontractor Blackwater

Feb 12 2009 // The survivors of four Blackwater Worldwide contractors killed in a grisly ambush in Iraq five years ago have suffered yet another setback in their legal battle with the company.A federal administrative law judge in North...

Maryland Suit Claims Restaurant Drink was Cleaning Chemical

Feb 6 2009 // A Baltimore woman says when she ordered an iced tea at a local McDonald’s restaurant last year, employees gave her a cup containing a cleaning chemical.Caryl Jones has filed a $100,000 lawsuit in Baltimore City...

Wisconsin Court Bars Cheerleader’s Injury Suit Against Teammate

Jan 28 2009 // The Wisconsin Supreme Court says a former high school cheerleader cannot sue a teammate who dropped her while practicing a stunt in a case closely watched in the cheerleading world.Brittany Noffke was a cheerleader at...

Privacy v. Pugnacity: North Dakota Town Fights Over Cameras in Bars

Jan 22 2009 // Authorities in a small North Dakota coal mining town want bar owners to install surveillance systems after a rash of brawls that some people liken to those seen in John Wayne’s Western movies.Bar owners say the...

Alabama Arson Suspect Lunceford Faced Foreclosure, Federal Agents Say

Jan 13 2009 // Witnesses testified that businessman and former Auburn University’s punter Tommy Lunceford Jr. was in a dispute with a couple leasing his Gulf Shores (Alabama) restaurant and faced foreclosure when the building...

Texas Mutual Pays $3.2M Dividend – Its Largest – to Restaurant Group

Jan 13 2009 // Texas Mutual Insurance Company recently announced a $3,162,738 dividend to the Texas Restaurant Association (TRA) group discount program. This marks the largest dividend in Texas Mutual’s history. It was based...

Former Auburn Punter Lunceford Charged with Restaurant Arson

Jan 9 2009 // Federal agents have arrested and charged former Auburn University punter Tommy Lunceford Jr. with arson, obstruction of justice and intimidating law enforcement officers in a fire that destroyed his restaurant building in...

Jury Rules on Causation in Food Poisoning Case

Nov 3 2008 // Food poisoning defendants should not be granted a special, protected status with a “heightened” standard of causation, the California Court of Appeal has ruled.According to court documents in Alexis Sarti v....

D.C Restaurant Fire Causes $1M in Damages

Oct 22 2008 // A Washington, D.C. fire official says a two-alarm fire at a Georgetown restaurant caused about $1 million in damage, but the cause is still under investigation. Spokesman Alan Etter says investigators believe the fire...

Ike Pummels Louisiana-based Restaurants

Sep 30 2008 // Three years after Hurricane Katrina brought New Orleans’ restaurant industry to its knees, Hurricane Ike has delivered a crippling blow to three New Orleans area restaurant families.Middendorf’s, the legendary...

Restaurants’ Workers’ Comp Insurance Decisions Based Heavily on Price

Sep 19 2008 // A recent national survey of restaurant decision-makers finds that they place too much emphasis on the price of their workers’ compensation insurance, potentially forgoing the long-term financial benefits of accident...

Mass. LLJUA Becomes Competitive Hospitality Mutual

Aug 21 2008 // Massachusetts lawmakers have approved legislation converting the state’s liquor liability insurer of last resort into a competitive mutual insurance company offering liquor liability insurance to the entire...

Liberty Northwest Declares Dividend For Oregon Restaurant Program Participants

Jul 24 2008 // The Liberty Northwest Board of Directors recently declared a 10 percent dividend of premiums earned for restaurants participating in the Oregon Restaurant Association (ORA) Safety Group Dividend Property & Liability...

Salmonella Discovery Prompts Food Recall in North Carolina

Jul 21 2008 // North Carolina officials announced a recall of fresh jalapeño peppers and avocados distributed in North Carolina after samples from a food distributor tested positive for salmonella.The N.C. Department of Agriculture and...

Mass. Allows Liquor Liability JUA to Expand as Hospitality Mutual

Jul 8 2008 // Massachusetts lawmakers have approved legislation converting the state’s liquor liability insurer of last resort into a competitive mutual insurance company offering liquor liability insurance to the entire...

$13.5 Million Settlement Reached in Girl’s E. Coli Death

Jun 16 2008 // Eight years after a 3-year-old girl died from exposure to tainted meat at a Sizzler restaurant, her family reached a $13.5 million settlement with the company’s meat supplier and others, according to court records....

Food Safety Fears Rising in U.S. as Tomatoes Become Latest Scare

Jun 11 2008 // Whether it’s Salmonella in tomatoes or E. coli-tainted spinach, outbreaks of food-borne illness are scaring people away from some foods and shaking their confidence in U.S. food safety procedures.“Food in the...

Mass. High Court Bars Recovery of Workers’ Comp Costs in Tort

Jun 4 2008 // A Massachusetts employer is not entitled to recover any increased workers’ compensation costs from a third party responsible for injuring its employee.The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the...