BC-CA--Strawberry Battle/156
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Judge sides with UC Davis in strawberry growers' lawsuit

DAVIS, Calif. (AP) — A federal judge has sided with University of California, Davis, in part of an ongoing lawsuit over the university's strawberry-breeding program.

The Sacramento Bee reports (http://bit.ly/1Th1q7B ) that last week a judge rejected two former university employee's request to gain control of a family of valuable strawberry plants currently housed in a campus greenhouse. The judge also rejected California Berry's request for a temporary restraining order that would have had a third party breed the strawberries this summer.

The ruling does not end the lawsuit.

This is the second case filed against the university over its strawberry program, which helps develop nearly half of California's crop and is valued at $2 billion annually. In 2014 the private California Strawberry Commission filed a lawsuit that alleged the university plans to abandon the program. That lawsuit was settled.

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Information from: The Sacramento Bee, http://www.sacbee.com

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