On June 25, 2026 Lollicup USA, a subsidiary of publicly traded Karat Packaging, filed a putative class action against Oregon DEQ Director Leah Feldon in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, seeking to represent producers not covered by the February 6, 2026 NAW preliminary injunction. The complaint pleads only the dormant Commerce Clause and Fourteenth Amendment due process theories the court credited in NAW v. Feldon. The program remains in effect; non-NAW producers remain fully subject to Oregon DEQ enforcement unless and until a class is certified and relief is granted. This suit is separate from the NAW v. Feldon bench trial, which was held July 13-17, 2026; a ruling in that case is expected by the end of August 2026. Source:
Packaging Dive (June 27, 2026); Plastics News; National Law Review; Arnold and Porter (June 2026).
Update, October 7, 2026: the court ruled for the DEQ Director on August 27, 2026, holding that the Recycling Modernization Act does not violate the dormant Commerce Clause or the Due Process Clause (ECF 205), and entered judgment for the Director on August 28, 2026 (ECF 206). NAW appealed to the Ninth Circuit on September 24, 2026 (No. 26-6404). The ruling removed the basis on which the February 6, 2026 preliminary injunction was granted, though ECF 205 mentions the injunction only in its procedural history, ECF 206 does not mention it, and no order has expressly lifted it, although a preliminary injunction ordinarily does not survive a final judgment against the party that obtained it. (Corrected October 12, 2026.) In Lollicup USA v. Feldon, the July 16, 2026 stipulation paused DEQ pre-enforcement notices through at least August 31, 2026 (as summarized by Arnold and Porter, July 22, 2026), and nothing on the public docket extends it. The joint status report is now due not later than October 16, 2026 (ECF 12).