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United States Supreme Court

California’s Wildlife Control Operators had no way to anticipate the legal outcome of their federal lawsuit for economic liberty, but we now know that the Merrifield v. Lockyer case has been cited in an amicus curiae brief submitted jointly by the Pacific Legal Foundation and the Cato Institute in support of a Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms case to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in March.

While its too early to tell, the WCOs may find, by July of next year, that their Privileges or Immunities Claim
has been vindicated by the Court’s decision in the case of McDonald v. City of Chicago.
 

 

 

  MERRIFIELD V. LOCKYER



   WCOs’ Legal Fight For Economic Liberty

Six years ago, the California Nuisance Wildlife Control Operators Association launched a constitutional challenge of a regulation in the Structural Pest Control Act and recently won the lawsuit in the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The case, known as Merrifield v. Lockyer, established the legal principle that:                  

“Economic protectionism for its own sake, regardless of its relation to the common good, 
cannot be said to be in the furtherance of a legitimate governmental interest.”     

This landmark case affirmed the legal precedent for entrepreneurs that Americans have a constitutional right to earn an honest living without arbitrary or excessive state regulation.

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ITS FINALLY OVER !!!
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JUDGMENT AND INJUNCTION 


The following JUDGMENT AND INJUNCTION in the case of Merrifield v. Lockyer was issued on May 29, 2009 by the United States District Court For The Northern District Of California.

Acting upon a mandate issued by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the federal district court in San Francisco entered the judgment in favor of the Plaintiffs Alan Merrifield, Urban Wildlife Management, Inc. and the members of the California Nuisance Wildlife Control Operators Association (CNWCOA) and against Bill Lockyer, State Attorney General, Kelly Okuma, Registrar and members of the California Structural Pest Control Board, and Gretchen Brigaman, Protest Officer for the California Department of Transportation (CALTRANS).

These state Defendants are now permanently enjoined from enforcing section 8555(g) of the California Business and Professions Code to the extent such section requires Branch 2 licensure for persons engaged in the live capture and removal or exclusion of mice, rats or pigeons from a structure without the use of pesticides, provided Plaintiffs maintain liability insurance coverage as described in section 8692.

The Appeals Court rejected the State’s petition for review and/or rehearing of the case and the Defendants subsequently decided against appealing the Merrifield decision to the United States Supreme Court.  Final settlement was reached by opposing attorneys on February 20, 2009 bringing the case to a successful close five and a half years after it was first filed.

The economic liberty principles cited in the case of Merrifield v. Lockyer have now become precedential case law in all federal courts within the nine western states comprising the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court District.
 

 

"Defenders of Liberty"

The CNWCOA is seeking to identify and enroll qualified California Wildlife Control Operators who will become known as the "Defenders of Liberty" and be protected by the  "JUDGMENT AND PERMANENT INJUNCTION"  recently issued by the U.S. District Court as mandated by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. If you are a California WCO, and you have an interest in the future of your profession, download The NWCO Family brochure and join our fight for economic liberty.


 

Why The California Association
Remains Independent

Eleven years ago a group of California Wildlife Control Operators, and some like-minded friends, responded to the national association’s call to organize by creating the California Nuisance Wildlife Control Operators Association (CNWCOA) as a non-profit, mutual benefit corporation. We subsequently became qualified as a tax exempt trade association....................
 

 

CNWCOA Proposes New Wildlife Control Legislation
July 10, 2009

Business and Professions Code, Section 8555(g)

On June 8, 2009, the California Nuisance Wildlife Control Operators Association submitted a proposal to revise Section 8555(g) of the Business and Professions Code to State Senator Leland Yee a member of this committee having the jurisdiction to introduce the desired change.................
 

 

 

Here We Go Again......
Legislature Ignores WCOs’ Constitutional Rights Once More


Now that the federal court has declared Section 8555(g) of the Structural Pest Control Act to be unconstitutional, its time to turn our attention to another piece of economic protectionism passed by the legislature for the economic benefit of California’s licensed pesticide applicators  at the expense of those of us who choose not to apply pesticides in the control of vertebrate pests.................
 


 

Proper Licensure of Wildlife Control Operators

For the past ten years, I have tried to understand the state’s occupational licensing laws and to determine which licenses are needed by WCOs. 
The California Nuisance Wildlife Control Operators Association (CNWCOA) ........................
 


 

Why I’m Not Renewing My Qualified Applicators License
 

Like many of you, I just received a renewal application for my Qualified Applicators License from the Department of Pesticide Regulation.  I have maintained this license many years by paying the license fees, county registration fees, and continuing education course registration fees. Add to these fees the travel costs and costs of my time when I could have been doing something more productive, then the cost of maintaining my QAL has added up to quite a pile of money. I used to think it was money well spent, but now I’ve changed my mind, and here’s why......................

 

Working Under Another Contractor's License?

Frederick J. Northrop and William Last Jr. have sent us an article they co-wrote entitled “California Appellate Court Holds That Contractor Must Return All Payments When Qualifier is Not Acting as a Manager”. .......................


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www.ca-wco.org is the official website of the California Nuisance Wildlife Control Operators Association, Incorporated, a nonprofit, tax exempt, trade    association organized for the professional, economic and political benefit of its members conducting private animal damage control and nuisance wildlife control work in California.