ABC News sought on Wednesday to move to federal court a meat processor's defamation lawsuit over reports about lean finely textured beef, a product that critics have labeled "pink slime."
Lawyers for the network filed to transfer the case, brought last month by Beef Products Inc, the leading producer of the product, from of a state court in South Dakota and to a federal court in the state.
BPI is seeking $400 million in compensatory damages for lost profit it says was caused by ABC's reports. The damages could be tripled under South Dakota's Agricultural Food Products Disparagement Act. The company is also seeking punitive damages.
Neither Dan Webb, BPI's attorney, nor a company spokesman could be reached for comment on Wednesday.
ABC, a unit of Walt Disney Co, said previously the lawsuit was without merit.
In addition to suing ABC News, South Dakota-based BPI has also sued ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer and two reporters who covered the story, Jim Avila and David Kerley.
Other defendants include Gerald Zirnstein, a former U.S. Department of Agriculture microbiologist credited with coining the term "pink slime" in a 2002 email to colleagues later obtained by The New York Times.
A number of fast-food restaurants and grocery retailers - including Walmart Stores Inc, Safeway Inc and Supervalu Inc - also stopped selling ground beef containing the product, even though the U.S. Department of Agriculture and industry experts say it is safe to eat.
In its court papers on Wednesday, ABC filed a removal notice to shift the case from Union County Circuit Court in South Dakota to the federal district court for the District of South Dakota, Southern Division.
Typically, if a party to litigation is successful in such a transfer, a case would proceed in the federal court system under federal procedural rules. If the case were to go to trial, a federal judge and jury would hear it.
Read More: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/25/usa-beef-pinkslime-abc-lawsuit-idUSL1E8LOLEZ20121025?type=companyNews&feedType=RSS&feedName=companyNews&rpc=43
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