A comprehensive summary of today’s judicial, legislative, and regulatory developments in agriculture and food. Email important additions HERE.

JUDICIAL: Water Law, Food Labeling

In Pape Partners, Ltd. v. DRR Fam. Properties LP, No. 21-0049, 2022 WL 1592723 (Tex. May 20, 2022), the Supreme Court of Texas considered whether the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) had the jurisdiction to adjudicate conflicting claims to ownership of surface-water rights. The TCEQ notified purchasers of tract of land that another landowner owned portion of the irrigation water rights included with their tract, purchasers brought action for declaration that they owned all of the irrigation water rights in the tract purchased. The 74th District Court, McLennan County granted landowner’s motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Purchasers appealed. The Waco Court of Appeals, Davis, J., affirmed. Purchasers petitioned for review, which was granted. The Supreme Court held that the TCEQ lacked jurisdiction to decide conflicting claims of ownership to surface-water rights and remanded the case to the trial court for further proceedings.

In Kelly Wach, Bryan Bor & Leroy Jacobs, individually & on behalf of all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. Prairie Farms Dairy, Inc., Defendant., No. 21 C 2191, 2022 WL 1591715 (N.D. Ill. May 19, 2022), the plaintiff argued that the product label was misleading because the product only contained a negligible amount of extract from vanilla beans and derives its vanilla flavor from artificial flavorings. The court found that plaintiffs’ allegations did not plausibly suggest that a reasonable consumer would be misled by the product’s label. The court held that the products label was not false, misleading, or deceptive as a matter of law. The case was dismissed.

REGULATORY: EPA, FWS

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

Final rule establishing tolerances for residues of pyridate in or on lentil, dry, seed and rapeseed subgroup 20A. Belchim Crop Production US Corporation requested these tolerances under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Info here.

FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE

Proposed rule announcing that FWS is proposing to list four species of Eurasian sturgeon as endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. Specifically, FWS is proposing to list the Russian sturgeon (Acipenser gueldenstaedtii), ship sturgeon (A. nudiventris), Persian sturgeon (A. persicus), and stellate sturgeon (A. stellatus), all large fish native to the Black, Azov, Aral, Caspian, and northern Aegean Sea basins and their rivers in Europe and western Asia. Info here.

Notice announcing that FWS has received an application from Mike Knoop and Michelle Wright for an incidental take permit (ITP) under the Endangered Species Act. The applicants request the ITP to take the federally listed California tiger salamander and California red-legged frog, incidental to the development of a single-family residence in Carmel Valley, California. Info here.