Blue Bell Outbreak Shows Increased Legal Risks for Companies

On May 15, 2020, in a bizarre twist, the charges against Kruse were dismissed on procedural grounds. There is some debate over whether the government will be allowed to renew the charges. If not, the case is over. The crimes Kruse stands accused of are subject to a five-year statute of limitations, meaning the prosecution must initiate the prosecution within five years of the last overt act committed in furtherance of the conspiracy, which in this case was May 2020.

For a defendant to be prosecuted, the court must have subject matter jurisdiction, which means a court has the authority to adjudicate the subject of the legal matter. If the court does not have jurisdiction, it cannot hear the case. To confer subject matter jurisdiction, the government must obtain an indictment (or a valid waiver of indictment). In this case, the court system was shut down because of COVID-19, meaning the government could not obtain an indictment. Thus, even though the government filed the charges against Kruse, the court lacked jurisdiction because there was no indictment. In turn, the court had to dismiss the charges. What complicates matters is that the statute of limitations has expired. In turn, it is not clear whether the government will be able to proceed.

Kruse will likely argue that because the case was dismissed, the government did not begin the prosecution and can no longer do so because the statute of limitations expired. Prosecutors will likely argue that by filing the information, they began the prosecution. The government will also likely make the statutory argument that that the dismissal of the information triggers a tolling period that allows the government to seek an indictment—even if the statute of limitations has expired—six months from whenever the next grand jury is convened.

Note: Paul Kruse is innocent until proven guilty and has not been convicted of any crime. The allegations levied by the federal government and described in this article were dismissed on procedural grounds, and whether they will be brought again is unknown.

Chappelle is a food industry lawyer and consultant at Food Industry Counsel, LLC. Reach him at [email protected]. Stevens, also a food industry attorney, is a founding member of Food Industry Counsel, LLC. Reach him at [email protected].