Posted on 06/18/2007 6:54:02 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued
The California Pistachio Commission got a new lease on life Friday when the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a temporary injunction stopping it from collecting fees from growers.
A group of pistachio growers, led by the largest pistachio company in the nation, Paramount Land Company and its related units, challenged the marketing and promotional activities of the Pistachio Commission. Paramount argued that the annual subsidies mandated by the California Pistachio Act of 1980 constitute compelled speech in violation of the First Amendment.
“Although Paramount has raised the specter of irreparable injury by bringing a colorable First Amendment claim, its showing with respect to the merits is insufficient to sustain an injunction. We reverse the judgment of the district court and vacate the injunction,” the appeals court says in its ruling.
The Pistachio Commission has been under a lower court preliminary injunction forbidding it from collecting and using the challenged assessments until the litigation is resolved.
Paramount and its various affiliated entities together pay between 25 percent and 30 percent of the Pistachio Commission’s total assessments.
But the farming giant says the commission’s marketing has not specifically benefited its brand of nuts.
“The expressive activity that has attracted Paramount’s ire centers around generic print and public relations advertising campaigns for California pistachios,” the court notes. “Paramount maintains that these campaigns are ‘ineffective in augmenting pistachio sales,’ ‘do not adequately feature the nuts themselves,’ and are ‘antithetical to Paramount’s interests,’ which are to ‘increase sales by differentiating its products from competitor’s products,’” the court says.
(Excerpt) Read more at centralvalleybusinesstimes.com ...
This article made me think of you. Perhaps you can elaborate on it.
LOL
I know nothing about the California Pistachio Commission.
But thanks for thinking of me.
Their all a bunch of nuts.
GROAN!!!!!!!
All these commissions are like the beef promotion outfit, it's so a bunch of moochers to get a piece of the business and not provide one bit of results for the money they steal.
Buy Reynolds, but keep your eyes open!
Well, I gave up California pistachios for good once I discovered Turkish pistachios.
http://www.nutsonthenet.com/index.php?a=30
These Commissions/boards are nothing more than the Corporate version of Unions and basically do nothing truly helpful - instead pocketing millions of dollars.
There was a similar case last year regarding Local independent Diary producers who wanted out of similar law-forced “contributions”...
Personally - I think the government forcing producers to pay into Union-like organizations is unconstitutional. But that apparently doesen’t make a difference any more. It is a whole lot like Union states - where you have to be a union member (or at least pay “dues”)... It’s just wrong.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.