NM horse slaughterhouse suit allowed to stand

A judge on Tuesday refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed in 2013 by the Attorney General’s Office against a Roswell company that wanted to open a horse slaughterhouse, rejecting an argument that the lawsuit is no longer relevant. State District Judge Francis Mathew also expanded a previously issued preliminary injunction to prevent a second, successor company from opening a slaughterhouse at the site. “This is, for lack of a better term, beating a dead horse,” company attorney A. Blair Dunn told the court. His clients “could not operate if they wanted to,” he said. He accused the Attorney General’s Office of “an endless stream of harassment” against Valley Meat, saying the AG is pursuing a legislative goal – outlawing horse slaughter – through court action.  The judge didn’t go as far as the AG’s Office wanted him to. The AG also had asked that the companies be barred from pursuing regulatory approval from federal and state agencies for horse slaughter or wastewater discharge, but Mathew didn’t do that...more