Source: Lisa M. Keefe, MEATINGPLACE, 1/12/16


Several motions and rulings over the holidays in the Humane Society of the United States’ case against USDA regarding the sale of the “Pork: The Other White Meat” slogan to the National Pork Board may put the entire arrangement in jeopardy.

In the suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, first brought in 2012, HSUS alleged that in the transaction — in which the National Pork Producers’ Council sold the slogan to the National Pork Board for almost $35 million, payable over 10 years — pork checkoff funds are being mishandled.

The complaint challenged Vilsack’s approval of the Pork Board’s purchase of the slogan and his annual approval of the payments made to NPPC under the purchase agreement. HSUS argued that the agreement would result in pork checkoff dollars being used to influence legislation.

In early December, NPPC filed a motion to intervene in the case, noting that the organization had “significant protectable interests in the contract and rights at issue in this case ... [and] its interests are not adequately represented by the existing, government Defendant,” according to court documents.

Subsequently, just before the Christmas holiday, HSUS and USDA filed a joint motion for the case to be stayed while the agency conducted a review of the original purchase agreement. On Christmas Eve, NPPC filed a motion against a stay and the agency’s proposed review, saying, “This case seeks to invalidate the Agreement. The 'review’ … appears directed at considering whether the Secretary should voluntarily terminate the Agreement. … Plaintiffs and defendant propose to conduct a 'review’ of the Agreement while the case is stayed, excluding NPPC from the process … . The tactics here are transparent.”

Nevertheless, last week District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled against NPPC’s motion, without prejudice, noting that NPPC made its motion “more than three years and two months after the case was filed and after settlement negotiations were already under way.”

However, the judge also ordered that HSUS and NPPC may submit to USDA any materials they want to agency to consider in connection with its review of the contract by mid-February.

A status update may be due to the court by April 1. The USDA has until May 2 to issue its review of the contract and the end of June to decide whether to authorize the 2016 payment to the NPPC.

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