Plaintiffs Unable to Enjoin FDA from Enforcing Raw Milk Regulations

A federal court in Iowa has denied a motion seeking to preliminarily enjoin the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from enforcing regulations prohibiting the interstate sale of raw milk. Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund v. Sebelius, No. 10-4018 (N.D. Iowa, decided January 23, 2012). The plaintiffs, who either produce or consume raw milk, filed their motion under the All Writs Act, claiming that FDA has taken enforcement actions against third parties in other jurisdictions while the plaintiffs’ lawsuit challenging the validity of the rules is pending and that such action usurps the court’s jurisdiction to decide whether the interstate sale of raw milk is legal.

According to the court, “[t]he plaintiffs have not cited, and I have not found,
any authority for the proposition that the first federal court to entertain a
challenge to a federal regulation has the power to forestall enforcement of
that regulation by a federal agency in other jurisdictions and tribunals against
non-parties even before the court resolves the legal challenge.” Finding that
the plaintiffs were unable to show the threat of irreparable harm to themselves
and because “[t]he FDA would be unduly hampered, and the public
interest would be damaged by enjoining enforcement of still-valid regulations
intended to protect the public from food borne illnesses resulting from the
consumption of raw milk,” the court ruled that no preliminary injunction
should issue.