A state judge has declined, for now, to hold raw-milk producers Barb and Steve Smith in contempt of court for refusing to unlock their coolers last December for inspectors from the NY Department of Agriculture and Markets.

The ruling is a small victory, but a victory nonetheless, since the Smiths could potentially have been jailed for their actions in resisting an administrative search warrant obtained by Ag and Markets. What gives the ruling some oomph is that it comes from Judge John C. Egan Jr., the same judge who acceded to Ag and Markets’ request for a search warrant last December, and thus might have been expected to side with the state once again.

Judge Egan said he issued the stay because the contempt proceeding relates so directly to the court suit brought by the Smiths and Meadowsweet claiming that the limited liability company they organized falls outside Ag and Markets’ jurisdiction. If Ag and Markets “does not govern the respondents’ activities, then the respondents cannot be held in contempt for failing to comply with the warrant issued…,” the judge stated.

The judge described the events that prompted Ag and Markets to seek the contempt order this way: “…on December 19, 2007, the State’s agents and dairy production specialists (DPS) Cox and Hinz, arrived at the premises and attempted the inspection of the dairy farm and milk plant. Respondent Steven Smith chose not to accompany DPS Cox and Hinz. Upon finding that a door to the plant was locked, DPS Cox and Hinz returned to respondent Steven Smith and requested that he unlock the door. Steven Smith refused. DPS Cox and Hinz left the premises without conducting an inspection. On December 28, 2007, DPS Cox and Hinz returned to the premises, and the plant was again, locked. Respondent Steven Smith refused to unlock the door to the plant and DPS Cox and Hinz left the premises without conducting an inspection. The State claims that the respondents have willfully failed to observe, comply with and carry out the terms of the inspection warrant.”

There’s been no trial date set for the suit filed by the Smiths and Meadowsweet under the auspices of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund. (In the photo above, Barb Smith is shown speaking with lawyer Gary Cox of the FTCLDF following a recent hearing.)

In the meantime, though, the state would seem to have lost one of its weapons in harassing the Smiths—ongoing application of the search warrant. Though the judge refused to quash the warrant, the fact that he won’t hold the Smiths in contempt for refusing to obey it would appear to take the teeth out of it.

There’s also no word on a decision in a separate Ag and Markets hearing in January to try to shut Meadowsweet Dairy LLC for making available milk and other dairy products to its 120 or so shareholders. While the hearing was conducted by an outside hearing officer, Ag and Markets can overrule that official. It would seem, though, that this judicial stay pending further consideration of the Smiths’ suit would make it tough to immediately enforce an agency ruling against the Smiths.

Once again, the Smiths stay alive, legally, to fight another day. The state first tried in January to get the Smiths’ suit dismissed, and were put off. Then the state tried for the contempt order, which could have been issued during a hearing in Albany February 28 before Judge Egan, and were put off. Now a stay has been issued. The state will not be put off so easily, and can be expected to pull a variety of tricks out of its long sleeves, but this certainly won’t be the slam-dunk the state may have been anticipating.