A federal judge will let a lawsuit proceed against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers after the agency ordered a nursery last year not to farm a wheat field just south of here.
U.S. District Court senior Judge Lawrence Karlton pointedly denied the agency’s motion to dismiss the suit filed by the Pacific Legal Foundation, a property rights group, on the behalf of Modesto-based Duarte Nursery and its president, John Duarte.
The Corps issued a cease-and-desist letter in February 2013 that accused Duarte of illegally filling wetlands. While Duarte disputes the accusation, the PLF also argued in its suit in Sacramento’s federal court that the government violated the business’ Fifth Amendment right in not allowing it to answer the charge.
In his April 23 ruling, Karlton rejected the Corps’ argument that Duarte had no basis to sue because no enforcement actions had yet been taken against the nursery.
“The Corps ordered plaintiffs to stop their activities and plaintiffs complied with the order, reasonably believing that they were not free to ignore a command of the United States government or its agency,” Karlton wrote. “In so complying, plaintiffs lost their crop, and to the degree they are still complying, they have lost their right to farm or use their land.”