Category: D.C. Circuit
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Procedural Missteps Doom Trade Association Challenge to EPA Rule Ending Domestic Pesticide Tolerances
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld, in part, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) denial of objections filed to its final rule revoking all residues of the pesticide carbofuran permitted on or in raw and processed foods. Nat’l Corn Growers Ass’n v. EPA, No. 09-1284 (D.C. Cir., decided July 23, 2010). EPA revoked the carbofuran…
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NRDC Continues Challenge to BPA in Contact/Packaging Materials
As part of its ongoing campaign to persuade government authorities to prohibit the use of bisphenol A (BPA), the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) recently filed a lawsuit in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals seeking to force the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take action on a petition the organization filed in October 2008…
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Colombians Sue Chiquita in U.S. Court for Alleged Terror Campaign
Nearly 1,000 unnamed plaintiffs, who claim to be family members of individuals purportedly killed by terrorist organizations in Colombia’s Urabá region, have sued Chiquita Brands International, Inc., alleging that throughout the 1990s and at least until 2004, the company “funded, armed, and otherwise supported” these organizations “to produce bananas in an environment free from labor…
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Federal Court Remands Consumer Protection Claims Filed Against Cereal Maker
A federal court in the District of Columbia has remanded to the D.C. Superior Court a lawsuit brought by the National Consumers League (NCL) against General Mills alleging that the company falsely misrepresents that Cheerios® “has drug-quality properties that would reduce total and ‘bad’ cholesterol levels when eaten.” Nat’l Consumers League v. General Mills, Inc.,…
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Federal Court Dismisses Challenge to Animal ID System
A federal court in the District of Columbia has dismissed claims that the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) violates a number of federal and state laws, including a religious freedom statute and constitutional protections. Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund v. Vilsack, No. 08-1546 (D.D.C., decided July 23, 2009). Dubbed in the press as the “mark of the…
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EPA Ordered to Produce Documents About Pesticide Suspected in Bee Colony Collapse
A federal court in the District of Columbia has ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to produce certain records about the pesticide clothianidin and lists of potentially protected documents to the Natural Resources Defense Council, which sought the information under a Freedom of Information Act Request submitted in July 2008. Natural Resources Defense Council v. EPA,…
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Federal Appeals Court Upholds Dairy’s Right to Challenge Marketing Law Amendments
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has determined that the owners of a dairy are not required to first exhaust administrative remedies before bringing a constitutional challenge to Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act amendments. Hettinga v. U.S., No. 07-5403 (D.C. Cir., decided April 3, 2009). The amendments codified certain rule changes that the Secretary of Agriculture…
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Del Monte Seeks to Free Imported Cantaloupes from FDA Detention
Del Monte Fresh Produce N.A., Inc. has sued the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), seeking a declaration that the agency has “engaged in a pattern or practice that constitutes agency action unlawfully withheld or unreasonably delayed” in connection with several cantaloupe shipments from Guatemala. Del Monte Fresh Produce N.A., Inc. v. U.S., No. 08-02161 (D.D.C.,…