Paul Carelli Successfully Defends Poway Unified School District From Legal Challenge to School Meal Programs
Led by the appellate team of Paul Carelli and Justin Manganiello, the law firm of Artiano Shinoff has successfully defended Poway Unified School District from a lawsuit brought by a lobbying group from Washington D.C. called the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. This lobbying group sued Poway Unified to prevent the District from serving processed meats to students in its school meal programs. The Superior Court found Poway Unified’s arguments to be compelling, namely that there is no legal basis for the District to stop serving processed meats during school meals. The District maintains a comprehensive nutrition and wellness program, which ensures that students receive healthy meals that exceed federal and state standards. In addition, the District provides vegetarian options to students who prefer not to eat meat.
The Court of Appeal affirmed the Superior Court’s ruling, and the Physicians Committee did not challenge the ruling in the Supreme Court. The case, called Physicians Committee v. Los Angeles Unified School District, et al. (2019) 43 Cal.App.5th 175 [256 Cal.Rptr.3d 412], is published and may be read here: https://law.justia.com/cases/california/court-of-appeal/2019/d073797.html