A federal court in Idaho has denied all pending motions to dismiss in litigation brought by direct and indirect potato purchasers who allege that the defendants violated antitrust laws by agreeing to reduce the supply of potatoes in the United States to increase their price. In re Fresh & Process Potatoes Antitrust Litig., MDL No. 10-2186 (D. Idaho, filed July 27, 2012). The plaintiffs contend that the defendants formed cooperatives which agreed to limit crop acreage and paid farmers to destroy existing potatoes or refrain from growing additional potatoes. Assessing the allegations in the plaintiffs’ amended complaint, the court determined that they met the plausibility pleading standard required under the U.S. Supreme Court’s Twombly and Iqbal rulings.
Tag Archives Idaho
After the Idaho State Liquor Division director was informed that a Utah-based distillery was considering suing the agency and state for refusing to allow the sale of Five Wives Vodka® in Idaho, the agency apparently decided that the product will now be allowed on state liquor store shelves and in bars. Discussing Idaho’s initial rejection of the distillery’s application, Director Jeff Anderson reportedly acknowledged that “people of the LDS faith” would not likely be shopping in liquor stores; still, he was quoted as saying, “that does not mean that we are not sensitive to them.” Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University Law School public-interest law professor, had informed Anderson of the distillery’s intent to sue the agency and the state if the director (i) refused to reverse his rejection of bar requests for Five Wives Vodka® special orders, and (ii) based a refusal to include the product on the state’s…
A group calling itself “The Ethereal Enigmatic Euphoric Movement Towards Civilized Hedonism, Ltd.” has sued Idaho in federal court, alleging that a state law allowing cities to “prohibit the sale of distilled spirits” violates members’ fundamental right to practice their religion. The Ethereal Enigmatic Euphoric Movement Towards Civilized Hedonism, Ltd. v. Idaho, No. 11-00097 (D. Idaho, E. Div., filed March 11, 2011). According to the complaint, the city of Preston in Franklin County has relied on the state law to forbid the sale of liquor by the drink. The plaintiff contends that this happened because more than 80 percent of local voters belong to The Church of Christ of the Latter Day Saints, whose members allegedly “believe that drinking alcoholic beverages is a mortal sin.” The plaintiff alleges that these voters “are allowed to force their morality on those of us who don’t believe in their religion,” and that, in fact,…
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal from a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision enjoining the sale and planting of genetically modified (GM) alfalfa seed until the government completes an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the crop’s proposed delisting. Monsanto Co. v. Geertson Seed Farms, No. 09-475 (U.S., certiorari granted January 15, 2010) (Breyer, J., not participating). The parties’ briefs must be filed in February and March 2010. The questions before the Court are (i) “Did the Ninth Circuit err in holding that NEPA [National Environmental Policy Act] plaintiffs are specially exempt from the requirement of showing a likelihood of irreparable harm to obtain an injunction?”; (ii) “Did the Ninth Circuit err in holding that a district court may enter an injunction sought to remedy a NEPA violation without conducting an evidentiary hearing sought by a party to resolve genuinely disputed facts directly relevant to the…
Finding that a trial court erred in admitting evidence and instructing the jury in a lawsuit involving claims that milk permeate sickened or killed calves that were fed the product as a source of dietary energy, protein and minerals, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has returned a breach-of-warranties lawsuit to the lower court for a new trial. Millenkamp v. Davisco Foods Int’l, Inc., Nos. 07-35299 & -35318 (9th Cir., decided April 14, 2009). The defendant allegedly advised the owners of a cattle operation about the use of milk permeate as a food source for their calves and then sold the product to them. When their calves fell ill and some died, the plaintiffs learned that they had stored the product at an improper temperature, “which allowed lactose to ferment into a harmful lactic acid that caused the calves to fall prey to rumen acidosis.” The plaintiffs sued for breach…
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