Animal Health
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—Week Ending January 14, 2022
COVID-19: Supreme Court Grants Stay of OSHA Workplace Vaccination Rule 🌾
On January 13, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court granted applications for a stay of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) November 5, 2021 COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) (86 FR 61402). National Federation of Independent Business, et al., v. OSHA et al., Nos. 21A244 and 21A247. The stay will be in effect until the cases are finally concluded in the federal courts. The cases were also remanded back to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals for disposition on […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review – Week Ending July 16, 2021
WOTUS: Federal Court Grants EPA Request to Remand and Leaves Navigable Waters Protection Rule in Place 🌾
On July 15, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina issued an order granting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) motion to remand without vacatur the Navigable Waters Protection Rule: Definition of “Waters of the United States” (85 FR 22250) (NWPR). South Carolina Coastal Conservation League v. Wheeler, No. 2:20-cv-01687. The court, which had previously stayed the case to allow for the administration change and EPA review of the rule, declined to explain its ruling in […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—week ending December 11, 2020
Dean Foods Bankruptcy: Pennsylvania Milk Marketing Board Negotiates Nationwide Solution to Preference Payment Claims
On December 9, 2020, the Pennsylvania Milk Marketing Board (PMMB), partnering with the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, announced that it had negotiated with the St. Paul, Minnesota, law firm representing the Chapter 11 bankruptcy estate of Dean Foods, ASK LLP. As a result, the PMMB prepared, and posted on the PMMB website, forms which can be downloaded, completed by producers and milk haulers in any state in the country, and mailed to ASK LLP as soon as possible as a response to the […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—week ending December 4, 2020
Dean Foods Bankruptcy: Dean Foods Bankruptcy Estate Threatens Dairy Producers with Lawsuits to Recoup Alleged “Preference” Payments
On November 24, 2020, a commercial collections law firm named ASK LLP, headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota and hired to represent the Southern Foods Group, LLC formerly d/b/a Dean Foods (“Dean”) Chapter 11 bankruptcy estate, mailed demand letters asserting legal claims for the repayment of milk check proceeds against thousands of dairy producers (including cooperatives) throughout the United States. The claims seek the recovery of milk checks received from Dean within ninety days preceding Dean’s filing of bankruptcy (i.e. between August 14, […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—week ending November 27, 2020
Food Labeling: International Dairy Federation Publishes Dairy Terminology Standards Update
On November 18, 2020, the International Dairy Federation (IDF) announced the publication of an update to its General Standard for the Use of Dairy Terms (GSUDT), titled IDF Bulletin 507/2020: The Codex General Standard for the Use of Dairy Terms—Its nature, intent, and implications. IDF specifies in the bulletin that milk “refers to normal mammary secretion of milking animals obtained from one or more milkings” and that “dairy terms are reserved to milk and milk products conforming to this definition.” Along with the bulletin, which is intended as […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—week ending November 20, 2020
Right to Farm: North Carolina Swine Production Facility Nuisance Verdict Upheld On Appeal and Smithfield Announced Unspecified Settlement of Claims
On November 19, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued an opinion affirming in part and vacating in part a judgment entered in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina (McKiver v. Murphy-Brown, LLC, No. 7:14-cv-00180) upon an April 26, 2018 verdict awarding compensatory damages for nuisance of $75,000 each and punitive damages of $5 million each (reduced by state law to $250,000 each) in favor of ten neighboring landowners […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—week ending October 2, 2020
International Trade: USDA and FDA Sign MOU to Coordinate, Collaborate on Dairy Exports
On October 1, 2020, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced their establishment of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU 225-20-017), indicating their intent to cooperate and collaborate regarding the export of milk and milk products from the United States. Under the MOU, FAS will lead communications with foreign governments while AMS will facilitate exports and issue dairy sanitary certificates. Additionally, FDA will verify the regulatory standing of milk producers and […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—week ending September 4, 2020
Industrial Hemp: USDA Reopens Comment Period for Hemp Production Rule
On September 4, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) announced the reopening (85 FR 55363) of the comment period for the October 31, 2019 interim final rule, “Establishment of a Domestic Hemp Production Program” (84 FR 58522). USDA states that it is especially interested in comments from regulated parties operating during the 2020 production season and outlines the following twelve issues on which it particularly seeks comment:
- Measurement of Uncertainty for Sampling
- Liquid Chromatography Factor, 0.877
- Disposal and Remediation of Non-Compliant Plants
- Negligence
- Interstate […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review – January 30, 2020
WOTUS: EPA Releases New Navigable Waters Protection Rule to Replace 2015 WOTUS Rule
On January 23, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (collectively “EPA”) announced the issuance of the Navigable Waters Protection Rule. This long-awaited rule will provide a new regulatory definition of “waters of the United States” for the purpose of establishing the limits of EPA’s regulatory jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act (CWA). It will be published in the Federal Register as a final rule, without any additional comment period, and its effective date will be sixty days after publication. To date, the Federal […]
