Trader Joe’s Owes Union Legal Fees for Failed Trademark Suit (1)

Trader Joe’s Co. will have to pay $112,000 to cover attorneys’ fees a union comprising some of its employees spent defending a trademark infringement lawsuit, a California federal judge ordered, noting a need to discourage “meritless claims.”

Trader Joe’s United won dismissal of the grocery chain’s suit in January, with Judge Hernan D. Vera’s opinion concluding it was “an attempt to weaponize the legal system to gain advantage in an ongoing labor dispute.” The company’s appeal of the ruling is pending at US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Vera granted the union fees, writing that “Trader Joe’s claim ...