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Food & Agriculture Litigation

Posted on September 25, 2018 by - Litigation

A close-up of a man's hand reaching into a golden wheat field

Downey Brand’s food and agriculture litigation team has represented clients from every sector of California’s agricultural industry, including farmers, dairies, wineries, processors, distributors, PCAs, aerial applicators, grocers, and industry trade associations. Clients include both plaintiffs and defendants, and range from individuals to large corporations. Our attorneys have represented clients in state and federal court, as well as in mediations, arbitrations, and administrative hearings. The attorneys in our food and agriculture litigation practice have extensive experience in California agribusiness and are deeply knowledgeable about the important issues facing the industry.

Commercial Disputes

Downey Brand litigators represent growers when buyers of their crops fail to pay on time (PACA and California Producers’ Liens). They also provide representation and counseling in commercial disputes over contracts, leases, and land acquisitions.

Pesticide Drift Litigation

Our litigators have represented growers whose crops have been damaged by drift to recover damages, and have also defended farmers and pesticide applicators who are accused of responsibility for pesticide drift. Downey Brand attorneys offer counseling to farmers, PCAs, and applicators to help them develop safeguards to minimize their risk of facing litigation and liability for pesticide drift.

Food Labeling Litigation

Gaps in the Food and Drug Administration’s regulatory frameworks have fostered a dramatic increase in food labeling litigation over the past decade. Experienced with this rapidly changing legal environment, Downey Brand attorneys counsel clients in the food and agriculture industry to minimize their risk of facing adverse legal action. And when necessary, our litigators defend food manufacturers and grocers in court from class action suits and regulatory scrutiny for alleged violations of food labeling standards.

Prop. 65 Violation Defense

Proposition 65 bars businesses from exposing customers to chemicals “known to the state to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity” without providing “clear and reasonable” warnings. Our attorneys help food manufacturers, processors, and grocers interpret their obligations under Prop. 65’s ever-changing regulatory framework and respond appropriately to notices of violation. In addition to assisting with compliance and risk management before a violation is alleged, our attorneys have defended clients in the food and agriculture industry in high-stakes Prop. 65 litigation.

Intellectual Property / Patent Litigation

The patent litigation team at Downey Brand has protected the trade secrets, technology, trademarks, and other intellectual property of companies across the agribusiness industry, from farmers and wineries to food processors and grocers.

Grocery Store Credit Card Surcharge Litigation

A recent decision in the Ninth Circuit permitted a grocer to apply credit card surcharges to purchases as a percentage of their total price. This decision, though narrow in scope, may permit other grocers and food retailers to apply credit card surcharges to their customers’ purchases. Our attorneys can guide businesses currently subject to California’s prohibition of credit card surcharges through the process of seeking relief from this law under this new Ninth Circuit precedent.

Agribusiness

Posted on September 7, 2018 by -

A photo of a box of various produce, such as carrots, tomatoes, radishes, lettuce, and mushrooms

As home to the largest and most dynamic agricultural industry in the United States, California occupies a central position in the global agricultural economy. Downey Brand provides a full spectrum of legal services to those in the production, processing, and distribution of food and agricultural products, to the associations and agencies that represent them, as well as the companies that supply and support them.

Our attorneys have decades of practical experience handling complex legal matters and helping our clients thrive in a byzantine and ever-changing regulatory environment. Our broad expertise, industry knowledge, and unique capabilities have prompted clients — from farmers and ranchers to input suppliers, packers, and grocers — to choose Downey Brand.

We help clients tackle a wide spectrum of industry issues, including food labeling and packaging regulations, supply contracts and lease disputes, land use and permitting regulations, and water supply and water quality compliance. The litigators at Downey Brand work extensively at the federal, state and local levels representing clients in pesticide regulation and drift litigation, crop damage litigation, and wastewater regulation and hazardous waste handling. Additionally, many of our clients are family businesses both large and small and we work with them to address the particular issues of a family-owned enterprise including estate planning and succession.

As active participants in industry trade groups and associations our attorneys have firsthand knowledge of the specific concerns of specialized agribusiness industries across the state. We are involved with the legislative committees and agencies crafting the fluid regulatory environment in which the agribusiness industry operates today, so that we are better prepared to help our clients thrive tomorrow.

Food & Agriculture

Posted on September 25, 2018 by - Business, Natural Resources

Ripe wine grapes hanging on a vine, ready for harvest

Our attorneys have extensive practical experience with the issues of daily importance to farmers, ranchers, input suppliers, packers, processors and grocers allowing our clients to focus on the demands of their operations.

Downey Brand provides a range of services to our Food and Ag clients that is unmatched in the region and covers the spectrum of industry issues from air quality compliance to tax issues and from pesticide regulation to succession planning. However, our advantages aren’t confined to knowing the law—we are active participants, as well as advisors, to the industry trade groups, associations and their members who must deal each and every day with specific concerns of specialized industries. We are also involved with the legislative committees and agencies that determine that regulatory environment in which the Food and Ag industry will operate.

Our comprehensive approach reflects the reality of today’s Food and Ag industry—a thriving, highly-regulated industry with complex business needs. We handle business transactions, interaction with regulatory agencies, counseling to prevent disputes, and dispute resolution in all state and federal forums relating to:

  • Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act
  • Food Safety Compliance and Labeling
  • Food labeling
  • Hazardous waste handling
  • Environmental compliance
  • Supply contracts
  • Pesticide regulation and drift
  • Crop damage
  • Land use and permitting
  • Lease of agricultural and commercial property
  • Real estate and corporate law
  • Regulatory and administrative disputes, including writ proceedings
  • License suspension and revocation hearings
  • Water supply and water rights
  • Wastewater regulation
  • Liquor wholesale
  • Contract dispute negotiations
  • Agricultural cooperatives
  • Williamson Act
  • Farmland Security Zones

We understand that many of our clients are family businesses both large and small and we work with them to address the particular issues of a family-owned enterprise including estate planning and succession.

Trending: Agricultural Cooperatives

The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act created a tax advantage for farmers selling their crops to agricultural cooperatives. Section 199A of the Act spurred many farmers who also own interests in packing or processing operations to look into creating co-ops in order to make use of this opportunity. In April 2018, section 199A was amended, changing the criteria for eligibility and the available benefits. However, creating a co-op may still produce savings for some farmers and some cooperatives. Our Food & Agriculture attorneys have many years of experience forming and representing agricultural cooperatives and work on the front lines of new legislation affecting our clients’ interests.

Food Safety & Labeling

Posted on September 25, 2018 by - Business

Nutritional information on a food label, displaying calories, fat, carbs, and protein content

Our food law attorneys have extensive practical experience with issues of daily importance to farmers, ranchers, input suppliers, packers, processors, manufacturers, and grocers, allowing our clients to focus on the weighty demands of their operations.

Our lawyers understand that food safety and labeling are technical, continuously evolving legal fields, and we are active participants, as well as advisors, to industry trade groups, associations, and their members who must deal each and every day with the specific concerns of specialized industries. We regularly interact with the agencies that regulate the industry and the legislative committees that work to determine future laws.

Our food safety compliance lawyers comprehensive approach reflects the reality of today’s Food and Ag industry—a thriving, highly-regulated industry with complex business needs.  Our attorneys both advise and litigate on a broad spectrum of issues, including:

  • Food Safety Modernization Act and related regulations
  • FDA labeling regulations
  • Supply contract disputes
  • Pesticide residue regulations
  • Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act
  • Land use and environmental regulations, including Prop 65
  • California Department of Food and Agriculture licensing
  • Regulatory compliance and administrative disputes, including writ proceedings
  • Food processor licensing
  • Federal Bioterrorism Act
  • License suspension and revocation hearings
  • Crop damage
  • Water quality
  • Wastewater regulation
  • International trade
  • Product recalls

Our food safety and compliance lawyers understand that ensuring a safe food supply is important to both our clients and their customers, and we work together as a team to ensure that both lives and livelihoods are protected.

Real Estate

Posted on September 25, 2018 by - Business

A photo looking up at a beige brick building with lots of windows

From environmental and title due diligence, to land purchase and financing, and through the approval process with local and state agencies, our attorneys are there to keep the project on track and close the deal. Our industry team brings together real estate, finance, environmental, and land use attorneys, providing clients a comprehensive and efficient response to the challenges and opportunities of any real estate project.

Our diverse client base is representative of our firm and includes manufacturers, agricultural growers and processors, investors, tenants, and owners whose properties include office buildings, retail centers, mixed-used developments, and industrial office parks throughout the region. With years of experience and an understanding of the many variables of a real estate project, our team knows how to close the deal to meet our client’s goals.

Real Estate

Posted on September 7, 2018 by -

From environmental and title due diligence, to land purchase and financing, and through the approval process with local and state agencies our lawyers are there to keep the project on track and close the deal. Our industry team brings together real estate, finance, environmental and governmental attorneys, providing clients a comprehensive and efficient response to the challenges and opportunities of any real estate project.

Our diverse client base is representative of our firm and includes manufacturers, agricultural growers and processors, investors, tenants, and commercial real estate owners whose properties include office buildings, retail centers, mixed-used developments and industrial office parks through the region. With years of experience and an understanding of the many variables of a real estate project, our team knows how to close the deal to meet our client’s goals.

Water Law

Posted on September 25, 2018 by - Natural Resources

Blue water with gentle ripples

Since the firm’s earliest work for water users and suppliers in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys established its historic Central Valley presence, clients statewide now count on our water law expertise – on the Central Coast, the Inland Empire and Southern California regions, the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, and the entire north state. Downey Brand water law attorneys provide strategic and substantive expertise in water rights, water supply, water transfers, water quality, groundwater, federal reclamation law, all aspects of public agency law, and overall in meeting the relentless challenges of ever-increasing demand in a constantly evolving legal and political framework.

Our water law attorneys guide clients daily in the means to acquire, perfect, and defend water rights, regularly preparing and prosecuting applications for rights to appropriate water before the California State Water Resources Control Board. Downey Brand attorneys analyze and evaluate water rights in connection with property acquisitions, including real estate developments, as well as agricultural, energy and mining ventures, whether the need is to address pre-1914 rights, riparian rights, groundwater and underflow rights, or general appropriative rights.

With water supply demands burgeoning throughout the western states, water transfers have emerged as an essential means of meeting new demands. Our water law attorneys expertly structure and document water marketing transactions, and guide them through both state and federal regulatory approval processes. Downey Brand has also been involved in all water transfer legislation addressed by the California Legislature, uniquely situating our lawyers to master this complex area and to occupy their influential place among California’s water policymakers.

The increasing importance of groundwater as a source of water supply for California has driven dynamic growth in the firm’s groundwater practice. Downey Brand water law attorneys evaluate groundwater rights, act as special counsel to public agencies developing groundwater sustainability plans pursuant to the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act and form groundwater sustainability agencies, including the development of special agencies established by the California Legislature.

A significant number of the firm’s water law clients also hold water supply, repayment, water rights settlement, or operations and maintenance contracts with the United States Bureau of Reclamation. Our water law attorneys are well-versed in all aspects of federal reclamation law, how this specialized area of the law interrelates with relevant state law, and counsels both public agencies and private parties on compliance with reclamation law.

Several of our water law attorneys devote substantial parts of their practices to general counsel services for public agencies that provide water, wastewater, flood control, and other services. This work includes advice on the Brown Act, Public Records Act, elections, conflicts of interest, state-mandated costs, employee relations, condemnation procedures, and construction, as well as state and federal legislative matters.

Water Rights & Resources

Posted on September 7, 2018 by -

A photo of a dam releasing water

Since the firm’s earliest work for water users and suppliers in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys established its historic Central Valley presence, clients statewide now count on our water expertise – on the Central Coast, the Inland Empire and Southern California regions, the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, and the entire north state. Downey Brand attorneys provide strategic and substantive expertise in water rights, water supply, water transfers, water quality, groundwater, federal reclamation law, all aspects of public agency law, and overall in meeting the relentless challenges of ever-increasing demand in a constantly evolving legal and political framework.

Our attorneys guide clients daily in the means to acquire, perfect, and defend water rights, regularly preparing and prosecuting applications for rights to appropriate water before the California State Water Resources Control Board.  Downey Brand attorneys analyze and evaluate water rights in connection with property acquisitions, including real estate developments, as well as agricultural, energy and mining ventures, whether the need is to address pre-1914 rights, riparian rights, groundwater and underflow rights, or general appropriative rights.

With water supply demands burgeoning throughout the western states, water transfers have emerged as an essential means of meeting new demands. Our attorneys expertly structure and document water marketing transactions, and guide them through both state and federal regulatory approval processes. Downey Brand has also been involved in all water transfer legislation addressed by the California Legislature, uniquely situating our lawyers to master this complex area and to occupy their influential place among California’s water policymakers.

The increasing importance of groundwater as a source of water supply for California has driven dynamic growth in the firm’s groundwater practice. Downey Brand attorneys evaluate groundwater rights, act as special counsel to public agencies developing groundwater management plans pursuant to AB 3030 (Water Code § 10753 et seq.), and form groundwater management districts, including the development of special agencies established by the California Legislature.

A significant number of the firm’s water clients also hold water supply, repayment, water right settlement, or operations and maintenance contracts with the United States Bureau of Reclamation. Our attorneys are well-versed in all aspects of federal reclamation law, how this specialized area of the law interrelates with relevant state law, and counsel both public agencies and private parties on compliance with reclamation law.

Several of our attorneys devote substantial parts of their practices to general counsel services for public agencies that provide water, wastewater, flood control and other services. This work includes advice on the Brown Act, Public Records Act, elections, conflicts of interest, state mandated costs, employee relations, condemnation procedures, and construction, as well as state and federal legislative matters.

Construction

Posted on September 7, 2018 by -

A photo of a building under construction

We help our clients devise practical solutions to problems that may arise during the earliest phases of project conception and design, through contract drafting, bidding procedures and protests, and dispute management during design and construction. Where disputes cannot be avoided, our group has extensive experience with litigating virtually every category and subcategory of construction disputes. Scope-of-work disputes, change order battles, critical path delay claims, design conflicts, project close-out, warranty and defective work claims, payment and performance bond issues, and prompt-payment disputes are frequent subjects of our practice. After construction is complete, we are equally well-versed in indemnity and insurance coverage issues associated with construction defect claims.

In addition to the construction-specific attorneys in the group, we can tap into Downey Brand’s numerous other practice-area practitioners, including those from our corporate, tax, water, environmental, land use, real estate, and employment law practice groups. The attorneys in these groups work seamlessly to bring the right expertise to bear on any problem our clients may encounter.

Downey Brand has the largest litigation practice of any firm in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valley.  Consequently, our group can easily buttress its own considerable litigation experience in cases with larger staffing demands. Our experience in virtually every state and federal court in California means that Downey Brand’s practice is well-suited to handle cases located throughout the state.

Through participation in community affairs and representation of clients, we have a wealth of practical knowledge and contacts to help facilitate any transaction.

Additionally, members of the Construction Group not only keep current with evolving changes in the law but often take the lead by making presentations and speeches to interested groups and writing papers for publication in leading law and industry journals. Beyond keeping abreast of the legal side of the construction industry, our attorneys participate in several trade organizations to appreciate our clients’ viewpoints and concerns.

Nonprofit/Tax-Exempt Organizations

Posted on September 7, 2018 by -

A close-up, sideways photo of the abbreviation "org"

Downey Brand’s attorneys have assisted nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations across the spectrum, from business-oriented entities like trade associations, agricultural cooperatives, and credit unions to charities, foundations, and higher education institutions. We have significant experience helping clients comply with the stringent regulations that govern nonprofit entities, including campaign finance and asset management rules.

In addition to our work on the matters unique to nonprofit organizations, we assist tax-exempt clients with issues such as tax compliance, employment law, and litigation. As a law firm with comprehensive business law practices, we can harness a broad and deep collective knowledge to tackle the problems that nonprofit organizations encounter – and to shape the law even before it is passed. From complex business acquisitions and the establishment of new nonprofits to land use, insurance, and intellectual property matters, Downey Brand is a leading advocate for tax-exempt organizations in California and beyond.