Hymes said there are no definite plans to file additional motions but the option remains open, adding that “Strategic decisions about whether to file, when to file and where to file are being made by the law firms [litigating] the case.”
“Because the implications are national in scope and profoundly affect many people and the because the federal government is involved, so there is a lot of strategic positioning involved,” Hymes told XBiz.
On Thursday, the FSC, on behalf of its members, filed a complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief in U.S. District Court in Denver asking for a TRO to block the Justice Department from enforcing new record-keeping and labeling requirements, which would otherwise go into effect June 23.
The FSC expects the court will hold a hearing on the motion for a TRO early next week.
The fact that the FSC and its attorneys chose to file in U.S. District Court in Denver is significant because it falls under the purview of the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled in the 1998 Sundance Associates vs. Reno case that secondary producers (webmasters) were not required to maintain records.
While that decision was not biding on a federal level because it applied only to secondary producer requirements for those living in the jurisdiction of the 10th Circuit, the favorable ruling may give reason for hope that the court will grant injunctions prohibiting enforcement of the majority of the new regulations, if not the entire statute.
