-November 7,2021-
A Tulare County judge ruled October 28 against The Wonderful Company in a dispute with a rival pistachio farmer.LA-based Wonderful challenged the Tulare County building permits issued to ARO Pistachios of Terra Bella and its owner Touchstone Pistachios. ARO received permits to add dryers and silos to their operations. The Wonderful suit was filed last July.
Tulare County Superior Court Judge Bret Hillman ruled Wonderful did not have standing to challenge ARO who has a similar operation to Wonderful in the area but, the judge reasoned, Wonderful does not suffer any direct impact that would allow such a challenge.
The judge wrote in his ruling:
Wonderful is, instead, a commercial resident of a general geographic area zoned for farming operations where it has substantial farming operations, like its competitor, Touchstone. At the hearing, counsel for Wonderful clarified that their client has a citrus orchard about two miles from Touchstone’s facility.
Wonderful’s counsel admitted at the hearing that there was no evidence submitted of impacts to employees living or working nearby in the record. Touchstone’s counsel noted that this was a tenuous connection and argued that Wonderful could file countless similar claims if acting in the public interest but chose to file only one against a direct competitor in the Pistachio business. Wonderful’ s interests are not akin to individual residence owners challenging development of a condominium complex in the immediate vicinity of their neighborhood.
Also unlike the residents in other cases, Wonderful was not party to proceedings relating to the initial land use decision facilitating the challenged land use approval.
The judge concluded there is insufficient evidence in the record supporting that its property interests or employees’ health will suffer harm as a result of issuance of the Building Permits.
The judge said that Wonderful’s interest in this litigation is as a direct economic competitor with direct commercial and competitive interests adverse to Touchstone’s farming operations, not a party motivated by concerns relating to public rights and enforcement of public duty.
Wonderful Co is owned by billionaire Stewart Resnick who also owns almond, citrus and pomegranate farms in the Valley – the largest player in all of these crops. Resnick has been tangling with Touchstone owners the Assemi Brothers of Fresno who are in the middle of a court battle in Fresno County. The Assemi Bros claim Resnick uses litigation to burden and destroy competitors. Both are big players in the pistachio industry. Assemi Bros are building a large processing plant in western Fresno County, a project successfully challenged by Resnick causing the Assemi Bros to start over on the permitting of the facility and delaying their plans.
The Assemi Bros recently purchased the ARO farm in Tulare County and filed plans to expand its operations, setting up this latest dispute.
County planner Mike Washam says despite this year -long court case in Tulare County, Aro/Touchstone added the improvements that were based on the disputed permits.
captions : ARO Pistachios of Terra Bella