John Chiv: First Amended complaint filed in Ray Christie's federal lawsuit against County of Humboldt

Mar 24, 2026

First Amended complaint filed in Ray Christie's federal lawsuit against County of Humboldt

On 3/23/26, an amended complaint was filed in rancher Ray Christie's case against the County of Humboldt.

Larson LLP partner, Mr. Rick Richmond, is representing Christie. The case has been assigned to Judge Noel Wise at the San Jose location. Humboldt County Deputy Counsel Joel Campbell-Blair is representing the defenants from County of Humboldt.

The County's motion to dismiss the original complaint was scheduled for 6/3/26. Today was the dealine for Ray Christie's lawyers to respond to the County's motion to dismiss. The County of Humboldt then gets to file a reply to that response.

On 3/27, Humboldt County filed a motion to withdraw their motion to dismiss the original complaint and filed a motion to dismiss the first amended complaint. Responses are now due by 4/10/26. Reply by the County of Humboldt on 4/17/26.

I am not posting the entire 77 page first amended complaint. I have included photos, table of contents, relief Ray Christie is seeking and highlighted some excerpts. There is some new information including the mention of Humboldt County First District Supervisor Rex Bohn.

I hope this case makes national headlines and exposes Humboldt and the arrogance of those who destroy lives, reputations and how justice in Humboldt Superior Court if you are not a part of the Humboldt clique and cabal is non-existent.

One of the changes. "Rather than allowing Ray to make a call or calling a lawyer for him, law enforcement ensured news media would be on the scene. News reports were filed throughout the day, including photos of some of the raiding party."

I can't tell you who told me because it was a long time ago but I was told at the Courthouse outside Courtroom 1 that I may want to check out Ray Christie's property. Unfortunately, I had a busy day at the courthouse. I don't have time to dig through the hundreds of posts I have done on Ray Christie's case.

This excerpt has information that was mentioned in various hearings but for the first time mentions First District Supervisor Rex Bohn.

"In Humboldt County, there is no place to dispose of animal carcasses. The local rendering plants were closed decades ago. No new ones have ever been built. There is no place for the carcasses to go in Humboldt County. Various Humboldt County Supervisors, such as Rex Bohn, have promised to address this problem of a lack of a rendering plant. But, they have failed to do so, leaving cattle ranchers like Ray with no choice but to make “dead piles” on their properties or bury the carcasses as best they can. Even worse, if particular cows happen to die too close to sloughs or other waterways, the ranchers can potentially be cited for “littering” a state-protected waterway. In California, protected state waterways can mean just about anything, especially in the Arcata Bottoms. The lowlands of the Arcata Bottoms are below sea level. During the rainy winter season, it is difficult to be 150 feet away from standing water anywhere in that area. During the wet and rainy winter season, the mud is so thick and deep, vehicles cannot pull animal carcasses weighing thousands of pounds out of the muck. It is an impossible task to clean up carcasses in the Arcata Bottoms. All cattle ranchers or dairy farmers in Humboldt County face the same problem with disposal of their cattle carcasses."

Local media articles, including my coverage is cited in the complaint. While there are people who value me here, those who are not from the area and encounter the Humboldt way of business appreciate me for a reason. This paragraph in the first amended complaint is not just the view of Ray Christie's attorneys but those who contact me from outside the area.

"Community backlash against Ray was swift. Numerous area news outlets and local journalists covered Ray’s case, such as The Times-Standard, The Lost Coast Outpost, The North Coast Journal, and Redheaded Blackbelt. John Chiv’s Words Worth, among all the local media outlets, was the only balanced reporting available at the time. Several of these outlets maintain comment sections, where members of the community wrote about their hatred of Ray, disparaging him, calling him an animal abuser, and advocating for his animals to be taken away and for Ray to spend the rest of his life in prison. When Ray’s trial occurred in late 2019, several local news outlets covered every day of Ray’s trial in extensive detail. Their reporting on Ray’s case was almost exclusively negative. This bad publicity further enflamed the already-strong community animus against Ray. Ray’s reputation in his community was forever damaged."