August turned out to be a very busy month for food law.  We’re again reading headlines about the definition of meat and debates over cage-free egg laws.  We’ve also come across some interesting criminal actions involving organic labeling fraud and undocumented workers at poultry processing plants.  And yet again we have a Roundup update, but fortunately for Bayer, the target of the latest lawsuits are Home Depot and Lowe’s.  So without further ado, here’s our latest gathering of agricultural law news you may want to know:

Tofurkey cries foul against state definitions of meat.  The maker of edible vegetarian products designed to replicate the taste and texture of meats is fighting back against state labeling and advertising laws that require products labeled as “meat” to be made of meat.  Tofurky filed a lawsuit in federal court in Arkansas to stop the state from enforcing such laws, which is similar to a lawsuit it filed in Missouri and yet another company filed in Mississippi.  Livestock advocacy groups succeeded in having 12 states pass laws restricting the ability of food producers to refer to their products as meats if those products contain no meat.  Livestock advocacy groups argue that the labeling practices are confusing and misleading to consumers, while companies like Tofurky argue that they have a constitutional right to describe their products with meat terminology.  On its website, Tofurky lists beer brats, jumbo hot dogs, “slow roasted chick’n,” “ham style roast,” and more.  None of the products contain meat.

Organic food fraud puts farmers in jail.  A federal judge sentenced a 60-year-old Missouri farmer to serve 10 years and 2 months in prison after being convicted of wire fraud, which is the federal crime of committing financial fraud through the use of a telecommunications wire across state lines.  This includes placing a phone call, sending an email, or advertising online in the furtherance of the fraudulent scheme.  Another three farmers were also sentenced to prison for terms ranging from 3 months to 2 years for their participation.  The fraud involved a decade-long scheme to mix traditional corn and soybeans with a small amount of organic grains and then label everything as certified organic.  The grains were mostly sold as animal feed to producers and companies selling organic meat.  Organic products generally are sold at a high premium, and the volume of goods in this scheme resulted in the farmers receiving millions of dollars from consumers that was fraudulently obtained.  The lengthy prison sentences reflect the farmers’ intentional misrepresentation and mislabeling.  In other words, it was not an accident.

Oregon joins California and Washington to make the west coast cage-free.  States continue to battle over whether eggs should come from cage-free hens or caged hens.  When we last discussed the topic HERE in May, the governor of the state of Washington had just signed his state’s cage-free requirement into law.  Iowa, the nation’s leading egg producing state, has gone the other way in trying to limit cage-free egg production.  Now, Oregon is set to ban the purchase or sale of eggs and egg products from caged hens starting in 2024.  However, Oregon’s law exempts eggs and egg products from caged hens if the sale occurs at a federally inspected plant under the Egg Products Inspection Act or if the caged hens were at a commercial farm with a flock of fewer than 3,000 hens.  You can read the text of the bill HERE.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids poultry processing plants.  Federal immigration officials have alleged that managers at five Mississippi poultry processing plants knowingly hired undocumented aliens who are not authorized to work in the United States.  Fines for individuals or companies proven to have actual knowledge that they hired undocumented workers can reach up to $3,000 per undocumented worker.  Individuals may also face prison time.  According to news reports, ICE arrested 680 possibly undocumented workers during its August 7^th raids in Mississippi.  In their applications for the search warrants, the investigators alleged that the companies hired undocumented workers who were wearing GPS ankle monitors as they await deportation hearings, reported Social Security numbers of deceased persons, and used different names at different times.

Latest Roundup lawsuit targets retailers Home Depot and Lowe’s.  You’ve heard us talk before about the thousands of lawsuits against Monsanto (now owned by Bayer) based on the allegation that the glyphosate in products like Roundup has caused cancer.  If you’d like a refresher, you can review our last post HERE.  Now, instead of going after the manufacturer, a new plaintiff is going after retailers.  Plaintiff James Weeks filed two class action complaints in federal court in California against Home Depot and Lowe’s, alleging that the home improvement giants failed to adequately warn customers about the safety risks posed by using the popular weed killer.  Mr. Weeks argues that the labeling leaves the average consumer with the impression that the greatest risk of harm is eye irritation, when in fact the retailers know of the product’s potential carcinogenic properties.  As these complaints are class action complaints, Mr. Weeks seeks to claim representative status over all consumers who purchased Roundup products from these retailers, and thereby lead the case against the retailers.  It will be interesting to see whether the court certifies these cases as class actions, or if this strategy falls short for the plaintiff.  You can read the complaint against Home Depot HERE.

Food giants seek silence from U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.  In 2015, the U.S. Commodity Futures Tradition Commission initiated a lawsuit against Mondelez International Inc. and Kraft Heinz Co. for allegedly manipulating the wheat futures market.  All parties recently agreed to an undisclosed settlement, and entered into a consent order with the court to close the matter.  The agreement apparently included a provision that all parties would refrain from publically commenting about the settlement.  However, the federal agency ended up commenting on the settlement by the end of the week in which the agreement was finalized.  Mondelez and Kraft Heinz believe that such statements violated the terms of the consent order, although the federal agency contests the allegation.  Nonetheless, the confidentiality restrictions make it difficult to know the full details of the settlement.  All we know for certain is that there was one.

Federal courts report that Chapter 12 family farm bankruptcies are on the rise.  The federal court system releases data every quarter on the number of bankruptcies filed each month in that quarter.  The latest numbers for April to June 2019 showed a slight increase in the number of Chapter 12 bankruptcies filed when compared to the same time period in 2018.  Nationwide, there were 164 new filings, compared to 135 in the second quarter of 2018.  The numbers show a gradual increase in the use of Chapter 12 bankruptcy since 2013, but the numbers are starting to tick up to levels not seen since the Great Recession.  Chapter 12 bankruptcy is a special form of bankruptcy that can only be used by family farmers and family fishermen whose total debts do not exceed a certain dollar limit.  The current dollar limit is $4.4 million, but there is legislation awaiting President Trump’s signature to increase the limit to $10 million.  In large part because of these restrictions, Chapter 12 is one of the least commonly used forms of bankruptcy. 

With many farmers in Ohio unable to plant before the Final Planting Date for crop insurance, questions are arising about planting and harvesting cover crops on those prevented planting acres.  USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA) rules allow operators to plant cover crops on prevented planting acres and to hay, graze, or cut the cover crops for silage after the posted “harvest date.”  In previous years, the harvest date for cover crops was November 1.   If an operator harvested the cover crop before that date, the prevented plant payment would be reduced from 100% to 35%. 

The RMA has changed the harvest date for 2019, however.  In response to reduced livestock feed supplies that will result from the loss of planted acres this year, the RMA has moved up the cover crop harvest date to September 1.  An operator who plants a cover crop after the Final Planting Date and then cuts the crop for forage on or after September 1 can still receive 100% of the prevented plant payment, even if the operator sells the forage and regardless of whether the operator planted the cover crop during or after the Late Planting Period.  The Final Planting Date in Ohio was June 5 for corn and June 20 for soybeans; the Late Planting Period ended on June 20 for corn and runs until July 15 for soybeans.  Note, too, that a cover crop that was in the ground before the Final Planting Date but was not terminated because the operator couldn’t plant the intended corn or soybean crop can also be harvested for forage on or after September 1.

The RMA’s chart below illustrates payment scenarios for cover crops planted and harvested on prevented planting acres.

Other requirements for cover crops

While the cover crop harvest date seems pretty straightforward, don’t be fooled--crop insurance provisions can be tricky.  Farmers planning to put out cover crops on prevented plant acres should work closely with their crop insurance agents to ensure that all policy provisions and documentation requirements are met. 

An initial requirement is that the cover crop planted must meet the definition of an “acceptable cover crop” for crop insurance purposes.   The RMA considers an acceptable cover crop as one that is recognized by agricultural experts as agronomically sound for the area for erosion control or other purposes related to conservation or soil improvement and planted at the recommended seeding rate.  OSU agricultural experts can help provide guidance on acceptable cover crops.   

Operators should also be aware that many seed licenses, particularly for bio-engineered seeds, restrict the use of the seed to grain production only.  In those situations, planting the seed for a cover crop or harvesting it for silage would violate the seed licensing contract and create a liability situation for the operator.

Additionally, note that crop insurance provisions prohibit harvesting the cover crop for grain or seed, and an operator who does so will lose all of the prevented plant payment.  The cover crop harvest can also impact other provisions, such as the farm’s Actual Production History (APH) yields.  These and other provisions highlight the importance of a close working arrangement with the crop insurance agent in order to comply with RMA’s cover crop provisions.

For RMA’s guidance on Prevented Planting Flooding, go to this page.  The site contains a comprehensive list of questions and answers on prevented planting, along with information about the 2019 cover crop provisions.   

A jury recently returned a verdict awarding a California couple $2.055 billion (yes, billion) in damages after the couple alleged that the glyphosate in Roundup caused their cancer.  This is the third California jury to be convinced that the Monsanto herbicide, which was acquired by Bayer last year, caused or substantially contributed to a cancer diagnosis of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.  A lot has happened since we last reported on these lawsuits HERE and HERE, so it is time to look at the glyphosate lawsuits, jury verdicts, and the larger debate.

Thousands of glyphosate lawsuits have been filed against Monsanto/Bayer.  Over 13,000 cases have been filed alleging almost the same thing: that a plaintiff’s cancer was caused by the glyphosate in Roundup.  About two years ago there were only a few hundred such cases.  News stories about large jury verdicts have caught people’s attention, as have commercials that some law firms have aired to find clients for this type of litigation.  The vast majority of these cases have been brought in state courts, which have a reputation for being somewhat quicker than federal courts, but there are still over a thousand in federal courts across the country.  So far, only three of these cases have reached a jury, and all have been in California.

First California jury awarded a plaintiff $289 million.  Dewayne Johnson was a school groundskeeper who routinely used Roundup as part of his job.  He was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2014, and believed that his diagnosis was a result of at least two prior incidents where he was soaked with Roundup.  His lawsuit against Monsanto in California state court was chosen to be the first case to be tried before a jury because his doctors did not expect him to live for much longer.

The San Francisco jury sided with Mr. Johnson and awarded him $39 million in compensatory damages, and $250 million in punitive damages.  Compensatory damages are meant to directly compensate for harm, and can include medical expenses, lost wages, and emotional distress.  Punitive damages, on the other hand, are meant to punish the party in the wrong and deter a similar course of conduct in the future.  The judge in the case ultimately reduced the punitive damages to match the compensatory damages, leaving Mr. Johnson with a potential $78 million recovery.  However, the decision is on appeal.

Second California jury awarded a plaintiff $80 million.  Edwin Hardeman sprayed Roundup on his property for about three decades.  In 2014, he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and decided to file a lawsuit two years later after learning about research connecting his form of cancer to Roundup use.  His lawsuit was the first to be heard in federal court.  This San Francisco jury awarded Mr. Hardeman $5.8 million in compensatory damages, and $75 million in punitive damages.  However, the decision is also on appeal.

Third California jury awarded the plaintiffs $2.055 billion.  The first two cases certainly sent shock waves through the news, but the size of this third jury award sent more than just shock.  The plaintiffs, Alva and Alberta Pilliod, are a California couple who were diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma within four years of each other.  The jury awarded the couple $55 million in compensatory damages, along with $1 billion in punitive damages each.  Bayer has promised to appeal this decision as well.

Will the parties ultimately get these punitive damages?  It is hard to answer this question just yet, but it is likely that the punitive damages awards will be reduced.  Courts are often hesitant about awarding punitive damages absent bad intentions by the party being punished, and few verdicts result in a punitive damages award.  When they are awarded, there are constitutional limitations on how large the award can be.  The U.S. Supreme Court has said that a punitive damages award that exceeds a compensatory damages award by more than a single digit multiplier likely violates a party’s due process rights and is not likely to be upheld.  This means that if a punitive damages award exceeds nine or ten times the compensatory damages, courts are to look at that jury’s decision with a high level of suspicion.  However, such an award could ultimately be awarded if the evidence of bad intent merits such an award, and if such award is necessary to deter future bad acts.

Bayer’s first hope on appeal is to have the jury decisions invalidated altogether by arguing that the juries were incorrect in linking these plaintiff’s cancer to their prior use of Roundup.  In order to succeed, it must prove that the decisions of the three juries were against the “manifest weight of the evidence,” meaning that they relied too much on one pile of evidence leaning one way while ignoring a mountain of evidence going the other way.  If it can succeed on this, then it would not have to pay damages to the plaintiffs.  However, this can be a high burden for an appellant to satisfy because of our legal system’s deference to juries.  If Bayer cannot succeed on avoiding fault, it would still argue that the jury awards are excessive.

In the first case, the initial jury award had a single digit multiplier of roughly six; however, the judge viewed even that multiplier as excessive and reduced the punitive damages award to match the compensatory damages award.  In the second case, the initial jury award had a multiplier of over twelve, which could give Bayer a strong argument on appeal if it is ultimately determined that it must pay the plaintiffs.  However, Bayer is also challenging the basis of the jury’s decision on appeal.

The third case is simply on a different level.  The $2 billion in punitive damages is 36 times the compensatory damages awarded to the couple.  The trial judge may respond like the first trial judge and reduce the compensatory damages award; however, that is not a guarantee.  What is likely a guarantee is that Bayer will appeal.

Does glyphosate cause non-Hodgkins lymphoma?  This question will continue to be a debate for years, and we as attorneys are not in the best spot to make any sorts of determinations based on the scientific research.  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and a number of scientific studies say no; however, the World Health Organization said in 2015 that glyphosate was “probably carcinogenic to humans.”  It was that announcement, and some research that followed, which triggered the wave of lawsuits we see today.  Bayer is using the first set of research to defend its product, while the plaintiffs are using the second set of research to attack Roundup.  The attorneys in the first three cases tried to undercut Bayer’s use of EPA and university research by arguing Monsanto had influenced the first set of research in a manner favorable to it.

For better or worse, what matters in a jury trial is less what the science says, and more what the jury believes the science says.  So far, three California juries have been convinced that there is enough science to say that glyphosate caused or contributed to the cancer of four plaintiffs.  The first non-California cases are beginning to be scheduled for later this year, including in Monsanto’s former home in St. Louis.  As of now, it remains to be seen whether the first three cases will be the outliers or the norms for the glyphosate litigation nationwide.

Since our last legislative update in March, Ohio’s legislators and staffers have been busy introducing more legislation.  As of this morning, there are 332 bills that have been introduced by members of the Ohio General Assembly since January.  Some have already passed both the Ohio House and Senate, but most are still pending.  While we cannot write about every pending bill, the following bills relate to agricultural, local government, or natural resource law.  In addition to these bills that we have not yet covered, see the end of this post for an update about bills we mentioned in our last blog post.

Tax

• Senate Bill 183, titled “Allow tax credits to assist beginning farmers.”  Many agricultural news outlets quickly picked up on this bill.  The bill would authorize two nonrefundable tax credits.  One is for beginning farmers who attend a financial management program, while the other is for individuals or businesses that sell or rent farmland, livestock, buildings, or equipment to beginning farmers.  The Ohio Department of Agriculture would be responsible for certifying individuals as beginning farmers and for approving eligible financial management programs.  Click HERE for more information about the bill, and HERE for the current official bill analysis.
• House Bill 109, titled “Grant tax exemption for land used for commercial maple syruping.”  The bill would exempt “maple forest land” from having to pay property taxes.  The landowner would have to apply for the designation with the Ohio Department of Taxation.  Eligible lands are those lands bearing a stand of maple trees where 1) an average of at least thirty taps are drilled each year into at least fifteen different maple trees per acre of land, 2) the harvested sap is incorporated into a maple product for commercial sale, 3) the land is managed under a forest land maintenance plan, and 4) the property has ten or more acres or the sap harvest produces an average yearly gross income of more than $2,500.  Note that all four requirements must be met in order to qualify as an exempt maple forest land.  Click HERE for more information about the bill.

Real property

• House Bill 103, titled “Change law relating to land installment contracts.”  Ohio’s Land Installment Contract Law, which applies to contracts involving properties with a residence but not contracts involving only open farmland, would see some significant changes under this proposed legislation.  The bill would shift the burden of paying property taxes and homeowner’s insurance from the buyer to the seller.  The seller would also be prohibited from holding a mortgage on the property.  The contract would have to include provisions stating that the seller is responsible for all repairs and maintenance on the property.  Interest rates would also be capped so that the rate cannot exceed the Treasury bill rate for loans of the same length of time by 2%.  For example, if a 5-year land installment contract is entered into on September 7th and the 5-year Treasury bill rate on that day is 2.64%, the interest rate for the land installment contract would not be able to exceed 4.64% under this bill.  Click HERE for more information about the bill, and HERE for the current official bill analysis.

Estate planning

• House Bill 209, titled “Abolish estate by dower.”  Dower provides a surviving spouse with rights in any real property owned by a decedent spouse.  This bill would end dower estates moving forward, but any interests that vest before the change would take effect would still be valid.  Click HERE for more information about the bill.

Local government

• Senate Bill 114, titled “Expand township authority-regulate noise in unincorporated area.”  A board of township trustees is currently limited to regulate noise coming from either areas zoned as residential or premises where a D liquor permit has been issued.  The bill would expand the township’s authority to regulate noise anywhere within the unincorporated territory of the township.  However, the bill does not affect another section of the law that exempts agriculture from noise ordinances, so agricultural activities would not be subject to any new noise ordinances, should this law pass.  Click HERE for more information about the bill, and HERE for the current official bill analysis.
• Senate Bill 12, titled “Change laws governing traffic law enforcement.”  Notably for townships, this bill would prohibit township law enforcement officers or representatives from using a traffic camera on an interstate highway.  Click HERE for more information about the bill, and HERE for the current official bill analysis.

Regulation of Alcohol

• House Bill 181, titled “Promote use of Ohio agricultural goods in alcoholic beverages.”  The bill would authorize the Ohio Department of Agriculture to create promotional logos that producers of Ohio craft beer and spirits may display on their products.  Specifically, the bill would authorize an “Ohio Proud Craft Beer” and an “Ohio Proud Craft Spirits promotion.  Click HERE for more information about the bill.
• House Bill 160, titled “Revised alcoholic ice cream law.”  Under current Ohio law, those wishing to sell ice cream containing alcohol must obtain an A-5 liquor permit and can only sell the ice cream at the site of manufacture, and that site must be in an election precinct that allows for on- and off-premises consumption of alcohol.  This bill would allow the ice cream maker to sell to consumers for off-premises enjoyment and to retailers that are authorized to sell alcohol.  Click HERE for more information about the bill.
• House Bill 179, titled “Exempt small wineries from retail food establishment licensing.”  The bill would exempt small wineries that produce less than 10,000 gallons of wine annually from having to obtain a retail food establishment license in order to sell commercially prepackaged foods.  The sales of the prepackaged foods cannot exceed more than 5% of the winery’s gross annual receipts.  The winery would have to notify the permitting authority that it is exempt, and also notify its customers about its exemption.  Click HERE for more information about the bill.

Energy

• House Bill 20, titled “Prohibit homeowner associations placing limits on solar panels.”  The bill would prohibit homeowners and neighborhood associations, along with civic and other associations, from imposing unreasonable restrictions on the installation of solar collector systems on roofs or exterior walls under the ownership or exclusive use of a property owner.  Condominium properties would similar be prohibited from imposing unreasonable restrictions where there are no competing uses for the roof or wall space where a solar collector system would be located.  According to the bill analysis, an unreasonable limitation is one that significantly increases the cost or significantly decreases the efficiency of a solar collector system.  Individual unit owners would also have the right to negotiate a solar access easement.  Click HERE or more information about the bill, and HERE for the current official bill analysis.
• Senate Bill 119, titled “Exempt Ohio from daylight savings time.”  The bill would require Ohio to observe Daylight Savings Time on a permanent basis effective March 8, 2020.  The state’s clocks would spring forward in March, but there would be no falling back in the fall.  Click HERE for more information about the bill, and HERE for the current official bill analysis.

As for the bills that we previously covered in our March legislative update, the following chart explains where those bills stand.  Those that have passed at least one chamber have their passage status underlined in the column on the right.  Those that have had at least one committee hearing list the number of hearings, while those that have not had any activity in committee state only the committee that the bill has been referred to from the floor.