Suterra drops suit against Sentinel

Suterra, the Oregon-based maker of a controversial pesticide slated to be sprayed in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties, dropped a lawsuit Friday that sought to keep two regional newspapers from publishing the compound's ingredients.

Late Friday afternoon, lawyers for Suterra notified attorneys representing the Santa Cruz Sentinel and Monterey County Weekly that it was dismissing the suit "without prejudice." Suterra did not elaborate, and its lawyers did not return calls seeking comment Friday.

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge had dismissed a restraining order request from Suterra, demanding the newspapers stop publishing information about its ingredients, which Suterra considered to be trade secrets.

"The company realized that maybe the public has the right to know what indeed is going to be sprayed on them," said Don Miller, the Sentinel's managing editor. "Our duty is to inform them. That's all we did here."

Roger Myers, a San Francisco attorney for the Monterey County Weekly, agreed.

"We're glad the threat to public discussion and knowledge about CheckMate has been removed," Myers said. "This is a victory for the First Amendment and public's right to know what is being sprayed on it."

Suterra's decision to drop the suit also follows Monterey County Superior Court Judge Robert A. O'Farrell's ruling Friday to lift a temporary ban on spraying CheckMate. O'Farrell said a controversial ingredient -- polymethylene polyphenyl isocyanate, or PPI -- was not a component in the pesticide used to halt the spread of the crop-eating light brown apple moth.

Based on information provided by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Sentinel identified PPI as an ingredient of the spray, and the Monterey County Weekly subsequently published the chemical's name. The EPA later said PPI, which some critics say is dangerous, was not part of the CheckMate compound.

O'Farrell, who also identified PPI in his multiple court orders, has yet to rule on Suterra's request to seal all records in the Monterey County case based on trade secret protections. Attorneys for the newspapers have opposed the request, arguing that PPI is already in the public realm and not a trade secret.