Judge dismisses egg production lawsuit

A federal judge has tossed out a lawsuit seeking to strike down a California law requiring eggs sold in that state to come from hens raised in non-cramped cages.

U.S. District Judge Kimberly Mueller on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit filed in February by Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster.

Iowa along with Nebraska, Alabama, Oklahoma and Kentucky, joined the lawsuit in March.

The states argued the California law, passed by voters in a 2008 ballot measure, violates the interstate commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution by effectively imposing new requirements on out-of-state farmers. The law egg-laying hens to be raised with enough space to allow them to lie down, stand up, turn around and fully extend their limbs.

California lawmakers later expanded the law to ban the sale of eggs in the state from any hens not raised in compliance with its animal care standards.

Koster contended Missouri farmers would have to spend about $120 million to remodel their cages to comply with California's law. Missouri egg farmers sell nearly 2 billion eggs each year in California.

Mueller ruled that the states lacked legal standing to file the lawsuit because they failed to show that the California law would harm their citizens, rather than cause possible future damage to some egg producers.

'It is patently clear plaintiffs are bringing this action on behalf of a subset of each state's egg farmers,” Mueller wrote in her decision, 'not on behalf of each state's population generally.”

Jimmy Centers, spokesman for Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, said the governor and plaintiffs are assessing the decision and options going forward.

'The governor believes that this case demonstrates the very reason the Commerce Clause was adopted - to prevent states like California from passing burdensome regulations that are a detriment to other states.”

While Mueller ruled that the lawsuit 'can't be refiled or amended,” the states can appeal her ruling.