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 next Wednesday, July 20 at 12 noon (ET) for a free webinar: CWA, 404 & WOTUS: Navigating Wetlands Issues in Agriculture. Details and sign-in information here.
CASE LAW: Includes APA, immunity, UCC, and contract issues.
In Lingenfelter v. Lower Elkhorn Nat. Res. Dist., 294 Neb. 46 (2016), a natural resources district ordered a farmer (plaintiff) to stop irrigating his land because district rules prohibited use of ground water for new irrigated acres without a variance. The farmer appealed using the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and a declaratory judgment action challenging constitutionality of the district’s rules. Plaintiff lost both claims and appealed. Appellate court found no procedural errors on the record and declared the district’s rules constitutional. Summary judgment for defendant affirmed.
In Harris v. Libke, No. 2014-CA-001029-MR, 2016 WL 3752119 (Ky. Ct. App. July 8, 2016), plaintiff claimed defendants (planning commission members) negligently told him that his saw mill and kiln business was permitted under zoning regulations. Defendant filed a motion to dismiss claiming immunity from liability on the basis of “qualified official immunity.” Court found defendants acted “within the scope of their employment” and “in good faith” and were entitled to qualified official immunity.
Wisconsin Cranberry Co-op. v. Groupe Alimonco, Inc., No. 2015AP2079, 2016 WL 3747592 (Wis. Ct. App. July 14, 2016) involved a dispute regarding a U.C.C. provision providing a remedy for sellers after buyers reject ordered goods. The appellate court considered whether cranberries sold by plaintiff (seller) “reasonably conformed” to cranberries ordered and whether, upon rejection by defendant (buyer), plaintiff undertook “reasonable efforts to resell” the cranberries at the highest possible price. Court concluded plaintiff acted “in good faith and in a commercially reasonable manner,” and affirmed seller’s resale and incidental damages award.
In SUN PRAIRIE, A PARTNERSHIP; AND BELL FARMS LLP, A NEBRASKA LIMITED LIABILITY PARTNERSHIP, Plaintiffs, & COTTONWOOD KNOLL, LLC., Intervenor Plaintiff, vs. JAMES CASON, ACTING ASSISTANT SECRETARY – INDIAN AFFAIRS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY; GALE NORTON, SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, IN HER OFFICIAL CAPACITY; AND ROSEBUD SIOUX TRIBE, A FEDERALLY RECOGNIZED TRIBE, Defendants. & CONCERNED ROSEBUD AREA CITIZENS, HUMANE FARMING ASSOCIATION, SOUTH DAKOTA PEACE AND JUSTICE CENTER, AND GEORGE ENGLAND, Intervenor Defendants., No. 3:02-CV-03030-RAL, 2016 WL 3659895 (D.S.D. July 1, 2016), plaintiff and defendant agreed to promote economic development on the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation. The parties negotiated a land lease contract stating plaintiff would secure financing to build multi-site hog confinement facilities on trust land and defendant would provide water and support. Eventually, they were unable to “renegotiate and adjust the terms” as required under their land lease and the parties petitioned the court to determine the “adjustment for property taxes” and “what prejudgment interest rate” should apply to their contract. The court diligently calculated an amount plaintiff owed defendant, reasoning that “Equitable principles generally do not apply in an action involving a valid contract,” however, “equitable principles can be applied to contract disputes when the contract does not address the dispute that arises.”
REGULATORY: Includes AMS, USDA, FS, ITA, and NMFS rules and notices.
AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE: Rule proposed amending the Soybean Order and the Beef Order to add provisions allowing producers to request their assessments paid to a State board be redirected to the national program. Details here.
AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT: Rule amends existing delegations of authority providing for designation of First Assistants to positions to which appointment is required to be made by the President with advice and consent of Senate. Info here.
FOREST SERVICE:
Notice the Cherokee Resource Advisory Committee will meet in Alcoa, Tennessee. Info here.
Notice the Fishlake Resource Advisory Committee will meet in Richfield, Utah. Info here.
INTERNATIONAL TRADE ADMINISTRATION:
Notice the Department of Commerce is conducting a new shipper review of the antidumping duty order on certain pasta from Turkey. Info here.
Notice the Department of Commerce rescinds the administrative review of the antidumping duty order on certain frozen warmwater shrimp from Vietnam for the period February 1, 2015 through January 31, 2016. Info here.
NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION:
Rule NMFS is closing the U.S. pelagic longline fishery for bigeye tuna in the western and central Pacific Ocean as fishery has reached the 2016 catch limit. Info here.
Notice the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will hold a meeting of its Standing and Reef Fish Scientific and Statistical Committees via Webinar. Info here.
Notice the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Advisory Panel will hold a public meeting, jointly with the ASMFC Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Advisory Panel. Info here.