Horse Slaughter Lawsuit Continues in New Mexico

SANTA FE – A judge has decided to allow a lawsuit filed in 2013 by the Attorney General’s Office against a Roswell company, which aimed to open a horse slaughterhouse, to proceed. The judge rejected the argument that the lawsuit is no longer relevant.

State District Judge Francis Mathew expanded a preliminary injunction to prevent a successor company from opening a slaughterhouse at the site. A trial to decide whether the horse slaughter operation should be permanently barred was tentatively scheduled for August 2016.

Valley Meat Co. argued that the case is moot because it has abandoned its plan to slaughter horses and because Congress did not fund the required federal inspection services in the current budget year.

“This is, for lack of a better term, beating a dead horse,” company attorney A. Blair Dunn told the court. His clients “could not operate if they wanted to,” he said.

Dunn accused the Attorney General’s Office of “an endless stream of harassment” against Valley Meat, claiming the AG is pursuing a legislative goal – outlawing horse slaughter – through court action.

Assistant Attorney General Ari Biernoff countered that the congressional ban on funding for inspectors ends soon, with the new federal budget year beginning on October 1. Advocates on both sides of the horse slaughter issue are lobbying Congress, which has “seesawed” on funding inspections.

Biernoff also argued that D’Allende Meats, formed by individuals with business ties to Valley Meat, is a “shell company” and that it’s clear the firms are positioning themselves for horse slaughter.

D’Allende Meats has a pending request with the state Environment Department for a permit to discharge wastewater. Dunn stated that this is because the company is trying to sell the Roswell facility, and prospective buyers may want to process dairy cattle there.

Dunn, representing both companies, assured the judge that none of his clients intends to slaughter horses at the Roswell plant.

“All they are trying to do is get out of this mess,” Dunn said.

The judge did not go as far as the AG’s Office wanted. The AG had also requested that the companies be barred from pursuing regulatory approval from federal and state agencies for horse slaughter or wastewater discharge, but Mathew did not grant this.

Dunn plans to ask Mathew, who is new to the case, to reconsider the preliminary injunction issued last year by Judge Matthew Wilson. Dunn claims Wilson may have had questionable communications while considering the preliminary injunction. Dunn has sued Wilson separately under the state’s public records law, and that case is pending in the state Supreme Court, although the court has ordered Wilson removed as a defendant.

Originally Posted By ABQ Journal