Legal counsel with the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law filed a lawsuit against Colorado State University over failure to comply with the Colorado Open Records Act pertaining to investigating behaviors conducted in a commercial slaughter facility where CSU researched mud scoring.

In 2020, CSU conducted a study — published in the journal “Meat Science” in 2021 — on mud scoring that measured how much mud was on the hides of cows at a slaughterhouse facility. The study was funded by the meat industry, and when Animal Partisan was investigating behavior in the study at the slaughterhouse, their requests for video and photos under CORA laws were denied by the university, prompting the April 10 lawsuit.

“(AALDP) is dedicated to advocating for animals and also for government transparency,” said Steffen Seitz, a litigation fellow with AALDP at the Sturm College of Law and one of the attorneys working on the case. “I think the public has an overriding interest in knowing what researchers at public universities are doing, especially (if) they’re acting in concert with industry.”

Seitz said that after a public records request was submitted to obtain evidence of what was occurring in the slaughterhouses during the study, a university records custodian told Animal Partisan they couldn’t produce any responsive records.

The university then invoked an exception to CORA, which stated that if there is ongoing research happening, records do not have to be disclosed.

“That seems a little bit fishy to (AALDP) just because the study had already published,” Seitz said. “It didn’t seem like any ongoing work was happening, (and) it didn’t seem like this exception actually applied.”

The next step in the CORA lawsuit proceedings is to confer with the defendant and try to resolve the issue between parties before bringing forth a suit. Seitz said Animal Partisan communicated with CSU and the records custodian several times.

“The university suddenly got back to AALDP and said, ‘Actually, it turns out the records were destroyed,'” Seitz said. “They were on a private Google Drive, and they were deleted without anyone knowing. And that also seems weird because they took (a) long time to look for these records. They said they did a thorough search. They invoked exceptions (with) ongoing research, which implies that they at least talked to the researcher and asked about whether there’s ongoing stuff happening.”

Seitz said the university acknowledged that if the records could be found, the exception to CORA of ongoing research would not apply.

“They work in concert with the meat industry, and they’re worried about, essentially, that that would damage that collaboration in the future,” Seitz said. “They didn’t want any of this stuff to get out, which indicates that they weren’t actually acting in good faith at any point in terms of trying to go by CORA. Instead, what they were doing was anything they could to prevent the disclosure that was required by CORA.”

There are laws called “Ag-Gag legislation” — aka antiwhistleblower legislation — that have passed in Alabama, Montana, North Dakota and Missouri seeking to obstruct evidence of animal cruelty. In the state of Colorado, Ag-Gag legislation is denoted as defeated, according to a graphic by the Animal Legal Defense Fund.

“There are studies out there that say when consumers see how animals are being treated — and particularly if they’re being mistreated — they will shy away from those purchases,” said Will Lowrey, legal counsel with Animal Partisan, an animal advocacy group for animal rights working with AALDP. “The agriculture industry (does) not want people to see — or rather to not let people see — what’s happening inside of these facilities. From my perspective, it’s hard for the consumer to see what’s happening in those facilities. So I will look for every opportunity to get a glimpse into what is happening.”

A press release from AALDP stated that CSU claimed that Google had deleted the files from the storage system.

“When research is done, you know, with animals, presumably there’s some benefit that the researcher is seeking to find,” Lowrey said. “I’m always looking to sort of see what that is at the expense of the animal. … It’s difficult to see what happens to animals in agriculture. I will take any chance to try to get that information to see what’s happening and to share it.”

AALDP emphasized that multiple attempts were made to work with the university regarding the CORA obstruction before initiating the lawsuit. A statement provided by the university said, “CSU learned about the lawsuit today. We will review the allegations and respond accordingly.”

“At some point, you know, we may end up getting our day in court for the judicial system to determine whether or not the Colorado Open Records Act was violated or not,” Lowrey said. “I would just emphasize (that) we did try to resolve it amicably. It didn’t quite work out to that. Now it’s kind of up to the courts to figure out where to go from here.”

Reach Allie Seibel at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @allie_seibel_.