SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Legal Newsline) - Repeating allegations that led a federal judge to recuse herself from litigation over acrylamide in foods, a lawyer-driven nonprofit group has asked the judge who replaces her to reverse orders that stopped its lawsuits in their tracks.
The Council for Education and Research and Toxics, a group that operates out of the offices of plaintiff attorney Raphael Metzger, asked the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of California to reverse a preliminary injunction issued by Judge Kimberly Mueller halting lawsuits based on claims acrylamide is carcinogenic to humans.
The Ninth Circuit recently upheld the injunction and a related order against CERT, ruling unanimously that the litigation raised First Amendment questions because medical authorities disagree on whether acrylamide is dangerous and thus whether warning labels would be inaccurate.
In a March 30 filing, CERT argued Judge Mueller’s orders should be vacated because she had “major financial conflicts of interest” stemming from her husband’s ownership of a farm that is leased to almond growers. Acrylamide forms in foods that are roasted, including coffee beans and almonds. CERT also repeated Mueller’s rulings were tainted because her husband, Robert Johnson Slobe, was the president of the North Sacramento Chamber of Commerce.
The California Chamber of Commerce is the plaintiff in underlying litigation seeking to halt acrylamide lawsuits under California’s Prop. 65 labeling law. NSCC was once a member of CalChamber but no longer belongs to the state organization, CalChamber said.
In this latest filing, CERT claims it was ignorant of Judge Mueller’s alleged financial conflicts until after she ruled in favor of CalChamber. The organization repeated prior allegations that the judge was biased because her husband’s 155-acre farm is leased to an almond grower until 2033 under terms that include a percentage of gross revenue. Judge Mueller disclosed the value of her interest in the farm at $720,000 and her interest in the larger Spring Valley Ranch at $234,000.
Mueller recused herself in October 2021, saying reasonable people could not believe she’d have a financial interest in the future of acrylamide litigation but chose to step down anyway.