By Martha Graybow and P.J. Huffstutter
Oct 24 (Reuters) - ABC News sought on Wednesday to move to
federal court a meat processor's defamation lawsuit over reports
about lean finely textured beef, a product that critics have
labeled "pink slime."
Lawyers for the network filed to transfer the case, brought
last month by Beef Products Inc, the leading producer of the
product, from of a state court in South Dakota and to a federal
court in the state.
BPI is seeking $400 million in compensatory damages for lost
profit it says was caused by ABC's reports. The damages could be
tripled under South Dakota's Agricultural Food Products
Disparagement Act. The company is also seeking punitive damages.
Neither Dan Webb, BPI's attorney, nor a company spokesman
could be reached for comment on Wednesday.
ABC, a unit of Walt Disney Co, said previously the lawsuit
was without merit.
In addition to suing ABC News, South Dakota-based BPI has
also sued ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer and two reporters who
covered the story, Jim Avila and David Kerley.
Other defendants include Gerald Zirnstein, a former U.S.
Department of Agriculture microbiologist credited with coining
the term "pink slime" in a 2002 email to colleagues later
obtained by The New York Times.
Defendants sometimes prefer to fight lawsuits in federal
courts where procedures are more standardized, rather than in
state courts. Disagreements over where a lawsuit belongs can
slow down a case in the early stages.
BPI is the nation's largest producer of lean finely textured
beef, a product used in ground beef that is made from trimmings
and on which ammonia is used to remove potential pathogens.
In March and April, ABC aired a series of television reports
on BPI's product, raising questions about its quality and
sparking a public relations furor that roiled social media,
consumer advocates and the nation's beef industry.
A number of fast-food restaurants and grocery retailers -
including Walmart Stores Inc, Safeway Inc and Supervalu Inc -
also stopped selling ground beef containing the product, even
though the U.S. Department of Agriculture and industry experts
say it is safe to eat.
BPI contends that ABC falsely and repeatedly characterized
the product as an unsafe and unsavory "pink slime" in an effort
"to incite and inflame consumers" against it. The processor says
the product is safe, healthy and "100 percent beef."
The reports caused the company to lose hundreds of millions
of dollars in sales, shut down three of its four plants and lay
off roughly half of its employees, BPI said in its Sept. 13
complaint.
In its court papers on Wednesday, ABC filed a removal notice
to shift the case from Union County Circuit Court in South
Dakota to the federal district court for the District of South
Dakota, Southern Division.
Typically, if a party to litigation is successful in such a
transfer, a case would proceed in the federal court system under
federal procedural rules. If the case were to go to trial, a
federal judge and jury would hear it.
The case is Beef Products Inc et al v. American Broadcasting
Cos et al, Circuit Court of South Dakota, Union County, No.
12-292.
For ABC: Kevin Baine, Dane Butswinkas and Carl Metz of
Williams & Connolly.
For Beef Products Inc: Dan Webb, J. Erik Connolly and Nicole
Wrigley of Winston & Strawn.
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