A comprehensive summary of today’s judicial, legislative, and regulatory developments in agriculture and food. Email important additions to: camarigg at uark.edu
ANNOUNCEMENT: Join us tomorrow at 12 noon (ET) for a free webinar: Harmful Algal Blooms and Agricultural Nutrients: State Responses to a Growing Issue. Details and sign-in information here.
JUDICIAL: Includes negligence, abstention, and evidence issues.
In YAN WANG et al., Plaintiffs & Appellants, v. GREGORY NIBBELINK et al., Defendants & Respondents., No. C073871, 2016 WL 5940076 (Cal. Ct. App. Oct. 13, 2016), a horse ran from land owned by defendants onto adjacent property and trampled plaintiff. Plaintiff filed negligence claim against defendant and argued defendant did not have recreational use immunity. In determining defendant’s potential negligence, the court considered whether statute at issue applied to “off-premises injury to persons not participating in recreational use of the land.” The court reasoned that, “Making landowners liable when a recreational user injures an uninvolved person on adjacent property would undermine this legislative purpose to encourage private landowners to allow recreational use of their land.” Summary judgment for landowners affirmed.
In Yelverton v. Edmundson, No. 5:15-CV-00134-F, 2016 WL 5940312 (E.D.N.C. Oct. 12, 2016), plaintiff sought dissolution of a farm corporation and damages under North Carolina’s Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act (UDTPA). Court noted that “Under the Burford doctrine, ‘[a] federal court may abstain from hearing a case or claim over which it has jurisdiction to avoid needless disruption of state efforts to establish coherent policy in an area of comprehensive state regulation.’” The court reasoned that North Carolina’s corporate regulations are “comprehensive and detailed,” and concluded that “corporate dissolution in North Carolina is an ‘essentially local matter,’ and as such, abstention is appropriate.”
In Dalmatia Imp. Grp., Inc. v. Foodmatch, Inc., No. CV 16-2767, 2016 WL 5930900 (E.D. Pa. Oct. 12, 2016), plaintiff sought an order that defendant waived attorney-client privilege regarding communications between it and its outside counsel because defendant attached emails between its president and its outside counsel to an affidavit. Plaintiff argued for a subject matter waiver and defendant claimed privilege was only waived regarding the “communications actually contained in the emails.” Court observed, “this is not a case where a party seeks to use attorney-client communications ‘affirmatively in the controversy without permitting its adversary to inquire into the basis or accuracy of the disclosed information.’” Court determined that plaintiff “has every opportunity to inquire as to the facts contained in the emails from the parties who participated in the events and communications the emails recount.” Plaintiff’s motion denied.
REGULATORY: Includes CCC, FWS, NOAA, NRCS, RBCS, and RUS rules and notices.
COMMODITY CREDIT CORPORATION: Rule RCS published an interim rule to implement the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program that was authorized by the Agricultural Act of 2014. Details here.
FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE: Rule FWS will reopen the comment period on its proposed rule to list the distinct population segment of wolverine occurring in the contiguous United States as threatened, under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Info here.
NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION:
Rule NMFS is transferring 18 metric tons of Atlantic bluefin tuna quota from the Harpoon category and 67 mt from the Reserve category to the General category. Details here.
Rule NMFS prohibits retention of the incidental catch allowance for Pacific Ocean perch in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska. Details here.
Rule NMFS prohibits retention of sablefish by vessels using trawl gear and not participating in the cooperative fishery of the Rockfish Program in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska. Info here.
Rule NOAA announces reduction of the commercial per-trip skate bait possession limit from 25,000 lb to 9,307 lb whole weight through October 31, 2016. Info here.
Rule revising the guidelines for National Standards 1, 3, and 7 of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. Details here.
NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE: Notice NRCS proposes revising Section I of the Wisconsin Field Office Technical Guide to include “Wisconsin Wetland Determination Methods” which will replace the existing “Wisconsin Wetland Mapping Conventions issued May 1, 1998.” Details here.
RURAL BUSINESS-COOPOERATIVE SERVICE: Notice RBCS announces the acceptance of applications under the Rural Energy for America Program which is designed to help agricultural producers and rural small businesses reduce energy costs and consumption. Info here.
RURAL UTILITIES SERVICE:
Rule RUS issues rule streamlining contractual process for equipment procurement by replacing type-specific equipment contracts with a new, unified Equipment Contract, RUS Contract Form 395, and associated close-out documents. Details here.
Notice RUS will prepare an Environmental Impact Statement and hold public scoping meetings in connection with possible impacts related to the Cardinal-Hickory Creek Transmission Line Project proposed by Dairyland Power Cooperative. Details here.