Canadian Jim Sues The State

Yakima

Tools

Story Published: Feb 23, 2007 at 7:08 PM PST

By Valerie Hurst

Watch the story

The state admits it made a mistake.
But blames a local cattle farmer for bringing them to court over it.
Outlook's James Floris--better known as "Canadian Jim"--brought mad cow into the country 3 years ago.
He says the state and federal government have made *him a bulls eye ever since..
And he's put up with it--until now.

Canadian Jim-- says he's followed state guidelines since the mad cow incident.
He even got approval from the state department of agriculture to brand his US cattle "Canadian"--so they'd be worth more.
But shortly after he started branding--the USDA put a ban on all 240 cattle.

"He branded his cows and then the USDA says you can't sell them we'll kill them and the state department of agriculture said the same thing," says JJ Sandlin, Jim's attorney.

An attorney for the state department of agriculture says she knows nothing about *killing the cows--or harrassing Canadian Jim. She admits the state made a mistake in authorizing the Canada branding--but *blames Jim for applying for the brand in the first place. Jim and his lawyer want the state to come inspect the cows and call it good--the state says they can't do that... a positive inspection means jim can sell the cows... and The USDA has already banned the animals from sale or transfer.

"If a buyer, an unwary buyer, is unaware the USDA will let these animals move, then they're in a world of hurt if they receive a document saying they can take possession of these animals when the usda says they cannot."

Jim's lawyer says it's unfair to put his client in a catch 22. Each of these cattle is worth over a grand. If the animals remain banned it hurts not only Jim's business--but his reputation.

Canadian Jim is one of the most famous men in the us right now and he's done more for helping track what cattle come from where...

Current Weather

Current Temp 46.0 °F

Partly Cloudy

Watch the story

More Weather

Current Weather

More Weather

Upload directly from your mobile device.

Learn how

YouNews

This content requires the latest Adobe Flash Player and a browser with JavaScript enabled. Click here for a free download of the latest Adobe Flash Player.