Judge Says University Must Keep (Pink) Slimy Secrets to Itself

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Story County (Iowa) District Court Judge Dale Ruigh last week ruled in Beef Products Inc. et al. v. Iowa State University of Science & Technology (Case No. EQCV045745) that the college may not release research data concerning the controversial beef filler dubbed "pink slime" under the state's Open Records Act [Iowa Code Chapter 22] because the meat packaging company's processing practices constitute trade secrets.

In his nine-page decision, Judge Ruigh relied on the trade secret exemption to Iowa's Freedom of Information Act to prohibit the university from producing documents requested both by The New York Times and a Seattle attorney who four years ago sought to obtain a 2002 ISU study of BPI's meat production practices to support a lawsuit involving allegedly contaminated hamburgers. The university was prepared to comply with the records request when BPI filed suit to prevent disclosure.

Under Sec. 22.1(3)(a) of the Iowa Open Records law, a public record "includes all records,documents, tape or other information, stored or preserved in any medium, of or belonging to this state, or any county, city, township, school corporation, public subdivision...or any branch department board, bureau. commission, council, or committee of any of the foregoing." The Court concluded that any knowledgeable person employed by a BPI competitor could review the targeted information and thereby acquire confidential data about the company's food processing methods and any new methods in development to BPI's detriment.

The controversy arose before BPI filed its $1.2 billion defamation suit against ABC News in September 2012, over a news story the plaintiff claimed portrayed "pink slime," a lean finely textured beef filler product made from ammonia-sprayed fatty trimmings, as harmful to the public that was not meat (See "TUOL" post 1/21/13).

Tip of the hat to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (www.rcfp.org) for tracking the case.

UPDATE: Pink Slime Headed Toward South Dakota Court?

Map of South Dakota highlighting Union County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

United States District Court for the District of South Dakota Judge Karen Schreier will hear
 arguments from Beef Products, Inc (BPI) seeking to remand its $1.2 billion defamation suit against ABC News to state court, Reuters wire service reported.

The case, Beef Products Inc. et al. v. American Broadcasting Cos. et al (Case No. 12-292), brought last year by the nation's largest producer of lean finely textured beef filler unaffectionately dubbed pink slime,  (See "TUOL" post 9/14/12) alleges the defendants, including anchor Diane Sawyer, harmed the plaintiffs' reputation by alleging the filler, made from ammonia-sprayed fatty trimmings, was not "meat" and harmful to the public.

Plaintiffs' counsel contended in papers filed in federal court last week that the South Dakota state court is the proper forum to hear the case because  BPI Technology, Inc. and Freezing Machines, two entities the plaintiffs allege are related to the suit, do business in South Dakota. The two companies, as well as BPI, are owned by Eldon and Regina Roth, according to the Reuters story.

The case was originally filed last September in Union County (S.D.) Circuit Court before ABC removed the action to federal court. The defendants have moved to have BPI Technology and Freezing Machines dropped as parties to the case and sought dismissal of the entire suit.  Plaintiffs, who also are seeking punitive damages, could possibly, if successful in their suit, receive treble damages under South Dakota's Agricultural Food Products Disparagement Act.

Sawyer, ABC News 'Slimed' with $1.2b Defamation Suit by S. Dak. Beef Filler Maker

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Dakota Dunes, South Dakota-based Beef Products, Inc.("BPI"), the nation's largest producer of lean finely textured beef filler unaffectionately dubbed pink slime, has slammed ABC News, anchor Diane Sawyer and others with a $1.2 billion defamation suit, according to a report by the Reuters news wire.

In a 263-page complaint filed in Union County Circuit Court, Beef Products Inc. et al. v. American Broadcasting Cos. et al (Case No. 12-292), the plaintiff is seeking $400 million in compensatory damages, along with punitive damages, for what it claims were more than 200 defamatory statements by ABC News in reports alleging the beef filler product it produces, which is made from ammonia-sprayed fatty trimmings, was harmful and not beef.

BPI is represented by high-profile Chicago attorney Dan Webb, a former U.S. attorney from Illinois whose prominent cases include prosecuting retired Adm. John Poindexter in the Iran-Contra scandal during the Reagan administration.  Besides Sawyer, ABC News journalists Jim Avila and David Kerley are also named as defendants.

The BPI complaint, according to the Reuters piece, alleges the company suffered staggering financial losses after ABC News telecast negative reports about pink slime in March and April of 2012, and was forced to pink slip half its work force--700 jobs--along with shuttering three of its four operating plants. The plaintiff alleges the defendants acted with actual malice in reporting about the finely textured beef it produces.