More ruffled feathers in chicken giants’ beef
May 12, 2008
While Tyson Foods Inc. is presumably working hard to comply with a federal judge’s order requiring it to rid the marketplace of any advertising that claims its chickens are “raised without antibiotics” by Friday, May 16, an attorney for the plaintiffs in the case, including Salisbury-based Perdue Farms Inc., is taking no chances.
In a May 5 letter (PDF) to U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett, Randall K. Miller noted the 4th Circuit had upheld Bennett’s injunction. Miller also suggested that a Tyson executive’s statement, made before the 4th Circuit ruled, should worry Bennett about the Arkansas-based meat company’s attitude.
In the statement, filed under seal as part of a bond proceeding, Tyson logisitics VP Donald Smith said that certain advertising “cannot be changed.”
“Mr. Smith’s declaration repeats a theme that the Court has already rejected — that Tyson does not control its trademark-branded advertising in the hands of third-parties,” Miller wrote, arguing such an excuse “will be insufficient to avoid contempt.”
Three days later, Tyson struck back (PDF), calling Miller’s letter “not only inappropriate, but also premature and unsound.”
“Mr. Miller’s letter seems to have no purpose other than to insult Tyson,” wrote William J. Murphy, local counsel for Arkansas-based Tyson. “The pretext for the letter — informing Your Honor that the Court of Appeals has Tyson’s motion for stay pending appeal — was wholly unnecessary given that the Court of Appeals’ Order was entered on the docket in this Court five days earlier.”
Murphy went on to enumerate Tyson’s diligence thus far in complying with the preliminary injunction.
Is this just a case of legal strutting around the barnyard or do these flying feathers portend bigger trouble come Friday?
BRENDAN KEARNEY, Legal Affairs Writer
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