We represent Drakes Bay Oyster Company; a small, family-run, sustainable oyster farm located in Point Reyes National Park. It’s been forty years since the National Park Service first issued a use permit for farming on the land, and now Ken Salazar has decided not to renew the permit to the Lunny family—but this family, this community and this nation isn’t going down that easily.
On Monday, Cause of Action, Soel Rives LLP, and SSL Law Firm LLP filed suit in the US District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco. The lawsuit was brought against the US Department of the Interior, the National Parks Service, NPS Director John Jarvis, and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.
What does it mean for the Lunnys? As Kevin Lunny said recently, “We’re not going to walk away…We’re fighting for our community, our employees, and our family.”
For the community? It means a loss of sustainable, locally grown food source—one that supplies 40% of the oysters to bay-area restaurants. It also means the destruction of 30 jobs, the loss in potential profits from rising oyster costs as well as a widening gap in the local-food chain.
For the nation? If Salazar, like others in the president’s cabinet, can continue to break laws without repercussion, then you be the judge: what does that mean for our nation?
For more on the developments of the Lunnys story and Cause of Action’s part in the fight, check out our newsroom.
As of May 24, 2013, Cause of Action no longer represents Drakes Bay Oyster Company, the Lunny family, or Dr. Corey Goodman and will be withdrawing as counsel from the litigation.
