Like a fighter down for the count who gets back on his feet at the last moment, and then stuns spectators by knocking the opponent back on his heels, the team of Organic Pastures Dairy Co. and Claravale Farm scored a big win in a California courtroom today.
Superior Court Judge Harry J. Tobias rejected the state’s heavy hitters from office of the Attorney General and the California Department of Food and Agriculture, and granted OPDC and Claravale a temporary restraining order prohibiting enforcement of AB 1735 and its ten-coliform-per-milliliter standard that had threatened to shut the dairies down.
The TRO will remain in effect until at least April 25, when a hearing will be held on whether to grant a preliminary injunction, which would continue the stay until a trial can be held some months later.
“We won today,” Gary Cox, the lawyer for the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund who argued the case, told me after the hearing.
He said the TRO prohibits CDFA from enforcing AB 1735, but allows the state to continue collecting samples and testing milk from the two dairies to measure coliforms. At the April 25 hearing, the judge indicated, he will further assess the potential impact of the test results on the dairies.
For that hearing, Gary said he hopes to show the potentially damaging impact of AB 1735 not only on the dairies, but on their customers. “I’m going to have Ron (Garthwaite) and Mark (McAfee) get as much testimony as possible from their customers as to how they would be harmed” by losing access to raw milk.
OPDC and Claravale had argued that AB 1735 threatened to put them out of business, for the sake of enforcing a bacteria standard that had no relationship to raw milk’s safety or the possible presence of pathogens. California’s Attorney General had argued on behalf of the CDFA that the coliform standard has been widely adopted around the country as an important way to determine dairy cleanliness and as an indicator of potential pathogens.
Today’s decision was significant not only because AB 1735 can’t be enforced, but also because of what it says about the court’s inclination in the entire matter. According to Gary, the plaintiffs had to meet two difficult criteria: demonstrate harm to the two dairies and show a substantial likelihood of success on the merits of the claim.
“The game is in our favor,” Gary said. Count this doubter as very impressed.
Grass-fed raw colostrum is a healing-grade medicinal food that must remain readily available to help all sick mammals, be they humans or cats and dogs.
i’m looking for nj to join in this year with it’s coming bill to allow raw milk sales from the farm and cow shares. nj is pretty much pro small farmer so i think they will be open to at least a trial program.
any other states with pending bills? while i’m not keeping detailed score it seems like raw milk is winning valuable ground recently with ohio, and michigan. i’ve forgotten and need to catch up on what’s happening in va and md.
it’s (almost) starting to look like a trend in consumer rights being upheld.
it’s nice to see it taking shape, i have had real fears that raw milk was going to be forced deeper and deeper underground.
my thanks goes to those fighting on the front lines. with plenty of hard battles ahead i believe this ca win could pave the way.
In order to fill out the declarations the consumers will need to contact OPDC and give very specific information. We need at least fifty declarations ( hundreds would even be better ) especially from consumers that have a medical condition that if raw dairy products were no longer available this condition would get worse.
So please contact OPDC right away and we will fill out and print out the legal form of the declaration and send it to you for signing.
This is a citizens fight for food freedom. Now is the time to act. 1-877 RAW MILK
The information needed includes:
Name, Age, Address, phone number, email address, fax number.
Reason why losing raw dairy products would make you ill or worsen your condition. Any other information that is compelling
You can send this information via email to mark@organicpastures.com if you wish. We will fill out the legal declaration and send it to you for signing.
All the best,
Mark McAfee
Who was the rep?
Thanks
There are 24 members on the committee. It was my understanding that Delegate Peter Hammen-Chairman of the committee, did not hold the vote until late at night and when 5 members were not present. We are still trying to find out who the missing 5 were, so we can then target those who voted against the bill as well. Dirty politics by Hammen. Thousands of Maryland citizens called, emailed and faxed his office in support of this bill.
Delegate Kipke was our sponsor, and he is a great asset to this state and its citizens. Please give him extra thanks and support.
Hubbard, James W. 301.858.3103 james.hubbard@house.state.md.us
Kach, A. Wade 301.858.3359 a.wade.kach@house.state.md.us
Kipke, Nicholaus R. 301.858.3421 nicholaus.kipke@house.state.md.us
Kullen, Sue 301.858.3231 sue.kullen@house.state.md.us
Mizeur, Heather R. 301.858.3493 heather.mizeur@house.state.md.us
Montgomery, Karen 301.858.3110 karen.montgomery@house.state.md.us
Morhaim, Dan K 301.858.3054 dan.morhaim@house.state.md.us
Pea-Melnyk, Joseline 301.858.3502 joseline.pena.melnyk@house.state.md.us
Weldon, Richard B., Jr. 301.858.3240 richard_weldon@house.state.md.us