Antitrust
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 July 9, 2021
Antitrust: White House Executive Order on Competition Features Agriculture Prominently 🌾
On July 9, 2021, President Biden issued an executive order titled, “Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy” requiring multiple executive agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to assess industry practices, revise or promulgate regulations accordingly and develop and submit plans and analysis addressing topics of competition within their respective industries. The order also creates a White House Competition Council, which includes the Secretary of Agriculture (Secretary), to address unfair “concentration, monopolization, and unfair competition” in the U.S. economy. Specifically, according to the text of a […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review – Week Ending June 25, 2021
Biofuels: U.S. Supreme Court Allows Non-Continuous Small Refinery Renewable Fuels Standard Blending Obligation Waiver Extensions 🌾
On June 25, 2021, the Supreme Court of the United States issued an opinion holding that a small refinery that previously received a waiver from Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) blending obligations may still receive an “extension” of the waiver even if it did not acquire a continuous waiver in previous years and allowed a previous exemption to lapse. HollyFrontier Cheyenne Refining, LLC, et al., v. Renewable Fuels Association, et al., No. 20-472. The court found that the term “extension,” which is undefined in […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review – Week Ending May 28, 2021
Pesticides/Herbicides: Federal Court Rejects Bayer’s Proposed Partial Glyphosate Settlement, Bayer to Review Roundup Residential Use 🌾
On May 26, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued an order denying approval of Bayer’s $2 billion proposed class settlement to resolve a portion of current and future claims in the multi-district class action litigation, In re: Roundup Products Liability Litigation, No. 3:16-md-02741. The proposed settlement covered claims from two groups of Roundup users: those who have already been diagnosed with Non-Hodgins lymphoma (NHL) but have not filed a claim and those who have not been diagnosed […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review – Week Ending April 9, 2021
Antitrust: Court Approves $58 Settlement in Peanut Class Action Suit 🌾
On April 5, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia approved a $58 million settlement agreement between the plaintiff peanut farmer Settlement Class and defendant peanut shellers Birdsong Corporation and Olam Peanut Shelling Company, Inc. in a civil antitrust class action suit alleging that the defendant companies over- and under-reported peanut inventories to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to manipulate prices. In re Peanut Farmers Antitrust Litigation, No. 2:19-cv-00463. The approval follows the court’s March 2021 back-to-back orders, absent accompanying explanatory opinions, approving […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review – Week Ending April 2, 2021
Agricultural Labor: Federal Court Vacates Swine Slaughter Rule Line Speed Elimination 🌾
On March 31, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota issued an order vacating the elimination of pork slaughter plant line speed controls which was included in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) October 2019 Modernization of Swine Slaughter Inspection rule (84 FR 52300). United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local No. 663 v. United States Department of Agriculture, No. 0:19-cv-02660. The United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) challenged the rule on behalf of pork processing plant workers as an Administrative Procedure […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—Week Ending March 19, 2021
Water Quality: Exelon’s Conowingo Dam Relicensed As Per Settlement with Maryland 🌾
On March 18, 2021, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a new 50-year license to Exelon Generation Company, LLC’s Conowingo Hydroelectric Project, the nearly century-old dam located on the Susquehanna River in Maryland approximately ten miles north of its entry to the Chesapeake Bay. Exelon Generation Company, LLC, Project Nos. 405-106 and 405-121, 174 FERC ¶ 61,217. In recent years it was discovered that previous modeling of phosphorous, nitrogen and sediment trapped behind the dam were flawed and pollutants previously assumed to be trapped behind the dam […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—Week Ending February 26, 2021
Antitrust: Court Grants Preliminary Approval of Civil Antitrust Settlement; Tyson and Pilgrim’s to Pay $155 Million 🌾
On February 25, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois issued an order granting preliminary approval of the settlements between Defendants Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. and Tyson Foods and the Direct Purchaser Plaintiffs (DPPs) in the consolidated antitrust class action suit In re Broiler Chicken Antitrust Litigation (No. 1:16-cv-08637). According to the agreement, subject to a June 29, 2021 Fairness Hearing, Pilgrim’s will pay up to $75 million to the DPP Class, which it previously announced. See ALWR—week ending January 15, […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—week ending January 22, 2021
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Industrial Hemp: USDA Publishes Final Hemp Rule
On January 19, 2021, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agriculture Marketing Service (AMS) published in the Federal Register a final rule titled “Establishment of a Domestic Hemp Production Program” (86 FR 5596), which completes the closely-followed process begun by the October 31, 2019 interim final rule to complete regulations governing domestic […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—week ending January 15, 2021
Agricultural Labor: Maryland Court of Appeals Finds Tyson Farms Not Co-Employer of Poultry Farm Employee
On November 20, 2020, the Court of Appeals of Maryland issued an opinion reversing the decision of the Maryland Court of Special Appeals and finding that Tyson Farms was not a co-employer of a Maryland poultry farm worker who sustained an occupational lung disease during his employment and residence on a Worcester County chicken farm. In overturning a jury verdict from the Circuit Court for Worcester County, which found Tyson not to be a joint employer, the majority of a Maryland Court of Special Appeals panel reversed the trial court and determined that Tyson was a co-employer with the farm owner—who had failed to carry worker’s compensation insurance—and […]
