Food, Beverage and Consumer Products
Turner Padget partners with a variety of clients in the food, beverage and consumer products industry. Our practice group represents suppliers, processors, distributors, restaurants, grocery stores, bottlers, hotels and a variety of other businesses that support these industries We counsel and defend clients in food-borne illness and food safety issues, sampling and testing procedures, premises liability, governmental regulatory and compliance issues, and media relations and crisis management. We also handle corporate planning, tax, stockholder disputes, mergers and acquisitions, and employment cases. With five offices throughout South Carolina, Turner Padget can efficiently handle these matters in any venue in our state.
Experience
Successfully litigated a three-day jury trial in US District Court prosecuting a claim on behalf of a large grain farming operation to recover amounts due under a producer contract, after the grain purchaser attempted to reject the grain crop for alleged aflatoxin contamination. Recovered a verdict for the full amount requested after we were able to prove that the purchaser’s grain sampling and testing procedures failed to meet USDA standard and the purchaser’s grain handling procedures failed to satisfy industry standards.
Successfully represented a restaurant in the largest Salmonella outbreak in South Carolina history involving over one hundred claims, multiple class actions and two deaths. Despite limited coverage, was able to successfully resolve all claims through numerous mediations, settlements and court approvals while protecting the owners and the restaurant and allowing them to continue in operation.
Successfully defended a grocery chain in a week long jury trial in State Court when Plaintiff claimed she was injured on equipment that the retailer had failed to repair despite knowing of its defective condition. Plaintiff further claimed that this injury developed into complex Regional Pain Syndrome and she incurred over $615,000 in medical bills after further complications from her treatment caused paralysis that lasted over a year. The trial judge directed a verdict against the grocer on the issue of liability but the Turner Padget attorneys were able to obtain a verdict in the amount of only $25,000.
Negotiated settlements of multiple dram shop death claims arising out of an automobile accident involving the serving of alcoholic beverages to the at-fault driver.
Represent numerous regional grocery store chains in premises liability suits.
Representation of majority and minority shareholders in shareholder and member disputes, buyouts, dissenters’ rights, corporate control disputes, squeeze-outs, intra-corporate conflicts, sale of control, corporate changes, amendment of shareholder rights, voting, sale of assets, value and fair value of stock or member interests, accounting, and dissolution matters.
Counseling and assistance in drafting corporate and organizational documents, including but not limited to contracts, operating agreements, management agreements, bylaws, employment contracts, share transfer restrictions, notices of dissenters rights, bylaw amendments, notices to shareholders, demands for shareholder information, and notice of exercise of dissenters rights.
Representing an individual restaurant owner who is being sued for trademark infringement by a regional restaurant chain.
Successfully negotiated and entered into favorable installment agreements with the IRS for affiliated entities with over $1,000,000 in combined liability for federal employment taxes. Negotiations also involved successful request for abatement of penalties and the revocation of responsible-party status for shareholder owners.
In Cribb v. Spatholt, 676 S.E.2d 706 (S.C. App. 2009), the plaintiff sued his former employer, Boundary House Restaurant, and its owners, seeking substantial damages and alleging wrongful termination, breach of contract, and violation of South Carolina’s Payment of Wages Act. The defendant won a motion to dismiss on jurisdictional grounds, and the South Carolina Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court’s ruling. The published case has precedential value in subsequent cases involving personal jurisdiction and South Carolina’s long-arm statute.
Obtained summary judgment for a national retailer in a lawsuit over the abduction and murder of a customer from a store parking lot.
Representative Clients
Grocery Store Chains
Restaurants and Restaurant Franchises
Bottling Companies
Farming Operations
Hotels
Resorts
Food Service Suppliers
Nightclubs
Community Associations
Retail Stores
Beverage and Food Distributors
Food Processors
Nursing Homes
Schools
Trucking and Transportation Companies