National Roundup

Massachusetts
Deal in Dunkin’ Donuts case could mean free buttered treats
BOSTON (AP) — A proposed settlement between a Massachusetts man and Dunkin’ Donuts shops could mean free buttered baked goods for hundreds of customers and a huge payout for his lawyer.

Jan Polanik had sued a cluster of franchises of the Canton, Massachusetts-based doughnut and coffeehouse chain, saying he received margarine when he requested real butter.

The Boston Globe reports that the settlement filed in Suffolk Superior Court could mean $500 for Polanik, three free buttered baked goods for 1,400 other customers and $90,000 for Polanik’s attorney.

It could be several months before the settlement gets final court approval.

Polanik sued two companies that together own more than 20 stores.

The parent company has said that most of its Massachusetts locations offer both butter substitutes and the real thing.

Utah
State Supreme Court rules against Tesla in push to sell cars
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Tesla’s push to sell its all-electric vehicles in Utah hit another roadblock Monday when the state Supreme Court upheld a decision by Utah licensing officials to deny the automaker a license to sell new cars.

Tesla had argued that a state law barring car manufacturers from owning dealerships didn’t apply to the company. Tesla sells its cars directly to customers rather than using independent dealerships, something Tesla attorneys argued is vital to their business.

Tesla must sell its own cars because a sale depends on convincing customers that electric cars are better than those with a gas engine. The company also argued that Utah law doesn’t block car makers from selling directly_it only blocks car makers from owning a dealership that’s set up as a franchise.

In the decision Monday, Supreme Court justices didn’t address whether Utah law blocks a car maker from selling its vehicles directly or whether it’s vital for the car maker to sell its own product.

The justices instead focused on a subsidiary company that Tesla set up to sell cars in the state, called Tesla UT. Tesla UT applied for an auto dealer license, and because Tesla UT is wholly owned by Tesla, state licensing officials were correct in a 2015 decision denying the license, the justices wrote.

In a statement, Tesla said the ruling was “disappointing for Tesla and all Utah consumers interested in consumer choice, free markets, and sustainable energy.” The company said it will pursue all options in Utah and will continue offering service in Utah for Tesla cars.

The Utah Automobile Dealers Association has argued that Tesla is required by to comply with the franchise law, which is designed to keep large car makers like GM from pushing out independent dealers selling the same cars.

Tesla has said that law protects a monopoly by locally powerful car dealerships and violates free-market economic policies in Utah’s constitution.

An effort to try to change the law earlier and accommodate Tesla failed in Utah’s Legislature earlier last year after the company pulled its support, saying the fix wouldn’t allow it to keep any inventory in the state. Unable to sell cars through its $3 million showroom in Salt Lake City, Tesla instead decided to take its fight to Utah’s Supreme Court.

The company has a used-car license for its Salt Lake City showroom, which allows people to test-drive and buy used cars but not new cars.

The company has run into similar legal problems in other states.

Nevada
Mustang appeal sought by counties denied
RENO, Nev. (AP) — Wild horse advocates in Nevada scored a victory Monday in an ongoing legal battle with rural interests they say want to round up federally protected mustangs across the West and sell them for slaughter.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco denied an appeal by the Nevada Association of Counties and Nevada Farm Bureau Federation representing ranchers and others who argue overpopulated herds are damaging the range and robbing livestock of forage.

The decision upholds an earlier ruling by a federal judge in Reno who dismissed their lawsuit in 2015 seeking to force the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to expedite widespread roundups across Nevada.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver upheld a similar decision in Wyoming in October.

In both cases, the American Wild Horse Campaign and others argued the courts have no authority to order the agency to gather horses in violation of the U.S. Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act.

“We’re pleased that the courts continue to dismiss attempts by these grazing interests to use the judicial system to rewrite federal law that Congress designed to protect wild horses from capture, not to favor the livestock industry,” said Nick Lawton, a lawyer for the campaign that formerly went by the name American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign.

The Nevada suit filed in 2014 demanded BLM sell older horses deemed unadoptable without the usual prohibition on resale for slaughter. The Farm Bureau argued the overpopulation “has severe impacts on the health of the horses as well as the ecological health and sustainability of Nevada’s rangelands.”

A three-judge panel of the U.S. appellate court agreed with Judge Miranda Du of Reno, repeating her conclusion the plaintiffs had failed to identify any specific final agency actions that could be challenged.

“Instead, NACO seeks judicial oversight and direction of virtually the entire federal wild horse and burro management program in Nevada,” the three-page ruling issued Monday said.

The BLM estimated a year ago that there were 67,027 wild horses and burros roaming federal land across 10 Western states — 40,000 more than the agency maintains the range can sustain. About half are in Nevada.

BLM removed about 8,000 of the horses and burros from the Western range in 2012, but fewer than 4,000 in each of the past two years, due in part to budget constraints.

Terri Farley, a Reno-area based author of the children’s book series, “Phantom Stallion,” and Mark Tewell, who owns Wild Horses of Nevada Photography in nearby Dayton, joined the campaign in opposing the rural counties’ lawsuit.

“This decision should help put a stop to baseless lawsuits from the livestock industry” intended to force the government to round up mustangs across the West, Lawton said.