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July 1, 2016 CapitalPress.com 7 Washington Sakuma objects to legal fees CHS Primeland has open house for claimed by workers’ lawyers its $18.5 million fertilizer facility Reimbursing costs final issue in suit Hub to serve 100-mile radius By DON JENKINS By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press Capital Press A Washington berry farm argues that the lawyers who sued it and won piece-rate pickers separate pay for rest breaks should receive about one-third as much in fees as they’re seeking. Sakuma Brothers attorney Adam Belzberg proposed in a court iling June 17 that fees and costs awarded opposing lawyers should not exceed $87,785. The workers’ attor- neys have asked a judge to award $251,699. The fees will compensate two law irms that worked on the precedent-setting case. The state Supreme Court ruled last year that piece-rate farmwork- ers must be paid separately for 10-minute rest breaks. The de- cision changed pay practices at farms statewide. After the decision, Saku- ma retroactively paid work- ers $87,160, plus 12 percent interest, The average payout per worker was $231, accord- ing to court records. The two sides have not be able to agree on how much the winning law irms will receive from Saku- ma, leaving the matter to U.S. District Judge Marsha Pech- man. In his iling, Belzberg claims Columbia Legal Ser- vices and Seattle irm Terrell Marshall Law Group inlated fees by billing for unnecessary and duplicative work by four CLARKSTON, Wash. — CHS Primeland held a grand opening ceremony June 23 for its new $18.5 million agron- omy hub plant at the Port of Wilma in Clarkston, Wash. About 250 people toured the facility and heard about its capabilities, as company lead- ers said it would serve growers for decades to come. “Our goal is really to be here, maybe for 100 years, but we’re deinitely set up to be here for 60 years,” said Ken Blakeman, general manager of CHS Primeland. “We’re really trying to build this facility for tomorrow’s producer.” “I encourage you as a producer to use this facility as much as you can — wear it out if you can,” said Tim Eichner, chairman of the CHS Primeland board of directors and a Kendrick, Idaho, farmer. “Ultimately, it comes down to producers being able to beneit from this. We did it so that pro- ducers had options for supply and pricing.” “When we make an in- vestment, it is for production agriculture,” said Lynden John- son, executive vice president of country operations for CHS in Inver Grove Heights, Minn. “It is to add value to them in their operations, to make them world-class in their production to compete globally.” In picking the location, the Don Jenkins/Capital Press Sakuma Brothers berry farm in northwestern Washington argues in a federal court iling that lawyers who represented pickers in a precedent-setting case that went against the business are seeking far too much in legal fees. attorneys and staff at the two law irms. Also, Belzberg argued the judge should reject the irms’ request for a 19 percent bonus. The irms argue they merit the bonus because their lawyers took on a risky case and did a superior job. “We strongly believe we are entitled to that,” Columbia Legal Services attorney Daniel Ford said Monday in an inter- view. “There was no guarantee at all there would be a verdict in favor of the workers.” Belzberg called the claim “disingenuous” because the workers’ attorneys elsewhere characterized paid rest breaks for farmworkers as a “natural extension” of existing state law. The legal fees are the last unsettled piece of busi- ness in a class-action lawsuit against Skagit County-based Sakuma, a family-owned business started by Japanese immigrants before World War II. Workers sued Sakuma in 2013 in U.S. District Court for Western Washington, alleging four pay violations. An out-of-court settlement resolved three of the issues. Sakuma retroactively paid 408 workers a total of $500,000, while two lead plaintiffs split $6,000 and their attorneys re- ceived $344,000. The settlement did not resolve whether piece-rate workers would be paid sepa- rately for rest breaks. Pechman referred the issue to the state Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of the workers. In May, the workers’ attor- neys iled for legal fees. The fees were primarily based on the hours spent on the case by the four lawyers, whose hourly rates range from $250 to $400 per hour. A hearing is set for July in front of Pechman in Seattle. Ford said the class-action lawsuit involved a large num- ber of workers, who spoke different languages, and de- manded lawyers with different skills. He said he was coni- dent he and his colleagues can justify the hours they billed. Matthew Weaver/Capital Press CHS Primeland had an open house at its new fertilizer facility in Clarkston, Wash., on June 23. Blakeman Eichner company wanted to have river, truck and rail access to provide farmers with cost-effective op- tions, Blakeman said. “The facility is actually set up so it can almost be unmanned,” he said. “There will be a day when you as a producer will be able to show up here, with no one here. This facility has the capability for you to come here, load your product and never have touched anything, except for your little card. ... You’d ac- tually be able to show up, open the gates, open the doors, punch in your load, load your truck and not have a single person (here).” The distribution plant and manufacturing facility has a capacity of 24,000 tons of dry fertilizer storage and 2.5 million gallons of liquid storage. Blakeman said the facility will serve a 100-mile radius. The company expects to grow from 100,000 tons of total prod- uct moving through the facility to 150,000 tons over the next ive years, he said. Fertilizer manufacturers want to build inventory and ship in a timely fashion. Without the hub, the company didn’t have the storage capacity when fertil- izer prices were good or farmers needed it, CHS Primeland seed and agronomy division manager Ken Mingo said. “This facility gives us the op- portunity to buy when the mar- ket is right and have the product on hand when a producer needs it,” he said. WDFW to buy forest, grazing land in Central Washington By DON JENKINS Capital Press OLYMPIA — Grazing and logging will continue on 3,613 acres in Klickitat County that the Washing- ton Department of Fish and Wildlife will buy, according to a state official. The Fish and Wildlife Commission on June 10 approved purchasing the land for $1.98 million from Western Pacific Timber. The state also hopes to buy approximately 15,100 acres in the Simcoe Moun- tains from the timber com- pany as money becomes available. WDFW prizes the land for its habitat for Western gray squirrels, spotted owls and steelhead fish. The land will become part of the Klickitat Wild- life Area. WDFW will man- age the land with the Wash- ington State Conservation Commission and the East- ern Klickitat Conservation District. WDFW Lands Division Manager Clay Sprague said the department also expects to continue commercial ac- tivities, though a manage- ment plan has not been de- veloped. The land has not been overgrazed or over harvest- ed, Sprague said. “I’ve toured the prop- erty. I think (logging and grazing) will be at least the same,” he said. WDFW owns or manag- es approximately 1 million acres. Western Pacific Timber is a privately owned com- pany that manages about 150,000 acres in Idaho and Washington. 27-1/#4X State hopes to purchase more from timber company Large Transmission Power Lines on Your Property? Lease Us Your Land! 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