June 17, 2016
CapitalPress.com
3
Oregon farmer seeks jury trial in Clean Water Act lawsuit
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
An Oregon farmer wants
a jury to render a decision
in the federal government’s
lawsuit that accuses him of
violating the Clean Water
Act.
Earlier this year, the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency filed a complaint
against Bill Case of Alba-
ny, Ore., for unlawfully
stabilizing a riverbank with
large rocks beginning in
2009.
The EPA is seeking up
to $37,500 per day in civil
penalties as well as a court
order requiring Case to re-
store the bank of the North
Dairy
cooperative
accuses
Sorrento of
contract breach
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press
Farmer Bill Case of Albany, Ore., points to the North Santiam Riv-
er, which abuts a 50-acre ield he owns. The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency is accusing Case of violating the Clean Water
Act by stabilizing the riverbank. Case recently iled an answer to
the agency’s complaint and requested a jury trial.
Santiam River to its original
condition.
Attorneys for Case have
now filed an answer to the
EPA’s allegations and re-
quested a jury trial, which is
considered unusual in Clean
Water Act cases.
In his answer to EPA’s
complaint, Case argues the
agency’s lawsuit is barred
because of his “reasonable
reliance on representations
by the United States Army
Corps of Engineers” that the
work didn’t require a Clean
Water Act permit.
Case has previously told
Capital Press that the Corps
told him the bank stabiliza-
tion project didn’t fall under
Clean Water Act jurisdiction
because the rocks weren’t
placed in the river.
When asked about the
jury trial request, Case said
he’d have to consult with
his attorney before com-
menting. Capital Press was
unable to reach Case’s attor-
ney as of press time, and the
EPA’s attorney cannot com-
ment on pending litigation.
Jury trials are rare in
such cases, as Clean Water
Act litigation is more com-
monly decided by federal
judges on motions for sum-
mary judgment, said Bill
Funk, an environmental law
professor at Lewis & Clark
Law School.
It’s likely that Case is
counting on a jury to com-
miserate with his predica-
ment of facing conflicting
interpretations of the Clean
Water Act by different agen-
cies, Funk said.
“I assume the thinking
is he will seem like a sym-
pathetic defendant,” he
said.
Under a legal precedent
set by the U.S. Supreme
Court, defendants have the
right for a jury to decide
whether or not an activity
violates the Clean Water
Act. However, the amount
of civil penalties and any
injunctive
relief
must
be decided by a federal
judge.
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Federal government
is suing Bill Case
for stabilizing
riverbank
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By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
A dairy farmers cooperative
is accusing an Idaho cheese fa-
cility of violating a contract to
take delivery of organic milk
from an Oregon producer.
Select Milk Producers, the
cooperative, has iled a lawsuit
against Sorrento Lactalis, a ma-
jor global dairy company, for
breaching an agreement to buy
organic milk from Cold Springs
Dairy of Hermiston, Ore.
The complaint alleges
that Sorrento’s milk procure-
ment manager at its facility
in Nampa, Idaho, in August
2015 committed to purchase
150,000 pounds of organic
milk for ive years at a price
of $40 per hundredweight. The
amount was later revised to
48,000 pounds a week.
By December 2015, how-
ever, Sorrento notiied the co-
op that it wouldn’t honor the
deal because the price was no
longer competitive and the
demand for organic cheese
had dropped, according to the
complaint.
Select Milk has been able
to sell the organic milk from
Cold Springs Dairy at a lower
price since then, but the coop-
erative has sustained damages
of more than $160,000 that
continue to accrue, the com-
plaint said.
Sorrento Lactalis iled a
motion to dismiss the law-
suit that denies Select Milk’s
claims, “particularly the al-
legation that it entered into
any inal, binding contract or
agreement.”
The cheesemaker claims
that Select Milk hasn’t identi-
ied any “signed writing” that
would comprise an enforce-
able contract under Idaho law.
Sorrento has asked a fed-
eral judge to either throw out
the lawsuit or order the coop-
erative to produce such a doc-
ument.
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