At the launch of the court challenge, Justice Donal O`Donnell said the definition of “bread” was established to distinguish starch from other baked goods, such as cookies or brownies, which are not healthy enough to be considered essential. On January 31, 2011, Subway`s attorney, Valerie Pochron, wrote to Casey`s General Stores, an Iowa-based convenience store chain, urging the small chain to stop using the term “footlong” in advertising its 12-inch sandwiches. Subway threatened to sue. As a result, Casey`s General Stores Inc. filed an application with a U.S. company in February 2011. The District Court of Des Moines to request a legal declaration that the word “footlong” does not infringe Subway`s rights. [107] Casey`s also requested a statement that the word “footlong” is a general description of a sandwich measuring a foot. [108] [109] Before serving its application, Casey`s Subway voluntarily denied its application and terminated the matter. [110] Brothers Mina and George Hanna were stunned when they were dragged into a possible arbitration hearing by the country`s largest fast-food chain after a subway inspector claimed the store didn`t bake or wipe fresh bread at night, according to legal documents obtained by The Post.
After viewing the video, Subway dropped all legal action against the brothers, claiming their business was compliant. In September 1999, at least 32 Seattle customers contracted hepatitis A after eating food contaminated with the virus at two subway agencies. [86] The virus, which is spread by eating or drinking food or water contaminated with infected feces, infects the liver and causes nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue and fever. [87] Subsequent investigations revealed that staff did not follow thorough hand washing and the use of plastic gloves when preparing food. [88] A class action lawsuit on behalf of 31 victims was settled for $1.6 million. [89] [90] The most severely affected victim – a 6-year-old boy – had acute liver failure and required a liver transplant. It received $10 million in an out-of-court settlement in 2001. [88] An earlier outbreak of hepatitis A in 1996 also affected a branch of the Seattle subway, although no legal action has been filed. [86] Ilene Kobert, a real estate partner at Greenberg Traurig in Miami, confirmed to Bloomberg Law that she will move to Milford, Connecticut, in February to lead Subway`s in-house legal operations. News of Subway`s hiring of Kobert was first reported Thursday by Restaurant Business magazine. The Post reported in May 2019 that Subway filed 718 lawsuits against its franchisees in 2018 and 955 in 2017. Compared to less than 10 per year filed during this period by McDonald`s, Burger King and Wendy`s.
Two months after his new job at Subway, Chidsey hired Kobert as Subway`s general counsel. She replaces Subway`s current in-house general counsel, Bethany Appleby, at Franchise World Headquarters LLC, the business unit that sells Subway franchises. (Subway IP LLC is the entity that owns the restaurant chain`s intellectual property.) Tigar was not influenced by Subway`s dispute over testing methods. Nothing under the current legal standard suggests that plaintiffs must “provide details about the means by which the lie was discovered,” the judge noted, citing a precedent. When the plaintiffs had 20 samples of tuna from the Los Angeles subway tested by the UCLA lab, 19 of them were unable to identify the tuna`s DNA, the 20 samples containing “detectable chicken DNA sequences,” the plaintiffs said, 11 samples containing pig DNA and seven containing bovine DNA. Last summer, the New York Times also tested a sample of tuna from Los Angeles with PCR tests, which also found no tuna DNA. Subway, for its part, has vehemently denied that its tuna salad contains protein other than tuna, saying that since the tuna tested was both processed and cooked, it is no longer correct to have it tested by a lab (via the Washington Post). In January 2018, the $5 promotion returned with a $4.99 menu of five submarines at participating properties.
[70] [71] [72] The lawsuit, originally filed in January 2021 by Nilima Amin of Oakland, alleges that Subway`s tuna products “do not have tuna as an ingredient, in part or in part” and “contain other species of fish, animal products or various products than tuna.” In March 2012, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne announced his intention to close the loophole that allows Subway`s competitors to offer hot meals without paying VAT. This legislation was due to come into force from October 2012,[104] but the government withdrew its plan to levy VAT on initially hot food, which was naturally left to cool on 28 May 2012. [105] In June 2012, Subway launched the “Toast the Tax” campaign to pressure the government to reduce VAT on grilled sandwiches, as it did for spicy delicacies. [106] He took a photo of an empty bread cabinet in which thawed bread is stored as evidence that no bread was prepared. Also in 2016, Subway announced a new logo for the franchise, which will be implemented in 2017. [28] On July 17, 2017, Subway unveiled redesigned restaurants called “Fresh Forward.” Features include self-service ordering kiosks; USB charging ports on tables; and new menu items, including extra spices and gluten-free bread. The company is testing the changes in 12 locations in the US, Canada and the UK, and many features are expected to be implemented in stores around the world by the end of 2017. [29] A federal judge says a woman`s lawsuit against Subway can go ahead and denies the restaurant chain`s motion to dismiss the lawsuit alleging that its tuna sandwiches do not contain “partially or completely” tuna.