116689244-DBOC-v-Salazar-Ex-Parte-Motion-for-TRO-Proposed-Order
116689434-DBOC-v-Salazar-Ex-Parte-Motion-for-TRO-and-Supporting-Memorandum
12/12/2012
Cause of Action files motion for temporary restraining order in Drakes Bay Oyster Co. case
The effort to fight Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar’s decision to shut down Drakes Bay Oyster Company has been moving full steam ahead since the November 30 announcement.
Last week, the Lunnys, represented by Cause of Action along with Stoel Rives, LLP; SSL Law Firm, LLP, and Briscoe Ivester & Bazel LLP filed a lawsuit against the federal government and Secretary Salazar after the farm was denied the renewal of its special use permit and given 90 days to finish up all operations, shut down their business, and move off of National Park Service land.
Today, the Lunnys’ attorneys filed a motion for a temporary restraining order in hopes of providing relief for the Lunnys to operate their business while we fight this abuse of authority and bring justice for the families, the community and the company affected by this decision.
The goal of the temporary restraining order is to prevent irreparable harm, which cannot be compensated by money, from being done to the company and the oysters while the court decides whether or not the government’s decision was unlawful. Freezing time on the 90-day sentence will allow Drakes Bay to continue working until the court has reached a decision in the case.
You can find the motion here and read more on the case here.
For more updates on the case be sure to 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As of May 24, 2013, Cause of Action no longer represents Drakes Bay Oyster Company, the Lunny family, or Dr.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.
12/6/2012
KTVU: POINT REYES: Oyster company files lawsuit over lease [VIDEO]
POINT REYES: Oyster company files lawsuit over lease with park….
The owner of Drakes Bay Oyster Company was vowing to stay open, having filed a lawsuit challenging the National Park Service decision to allow the 40-year lease to expire.
12/5/2012
Drakes Bay Oyster Company and Cause of Action take on the Department of the Interior
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.
12/5/2012
San Francisco Chronicle: Drakes Bay Oyster Co. sues feds in fight over farm
Read the full story here. SF Gate
“If allowed to stand, Secretary Salazar’s decision will terminate 31 full-time jobs, deprive 15 employees of affordable housing, hijack a property right of the State of California and permanently tear the fabric of a rural community,” stated the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco and made public Tuesday by the Washington D.C. nonprofit group, Cause of Action.
The suit asks the court to overturn the decision and allow the oyster farm owner, Kevin Lunny and his family, to be reimbursed for damages and allowed to continue harvesting oysters at least until another environmental report is completed and approved.
Salazar decided not to renew Lunny’s lease because, he said, the park service had made a commitment in 1972 to turn the 2,500-acre inlet into the first marine wilderness on the West Coast. Even though Salazar’s decision was not based on the oyster farm’s alleged impacts on the environment, lawyers for Cause of Action claim a rider inserted by Sen. Dianne Feinstein in an appropriations bill required him to consider the issue.
Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle / SF