NAW Seeks Stay of Enforcement of Oregon’s Packaging EPR Law Pending Appeal

On October 16, 2026, the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW) filed a Motion for a Stay Pending Appeal in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon seeking to restore its members’ preliminary injunction (PI) against enforcement of Oregon’s Plastic Pollution and Recycling Modernization Act (RMA) while NAW’s appeal in NAW v. Feldon is pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. As we previously discussed here, on February 6, 2026, the Court granted a PI in favor of NAW and its members, finding that “serious questions” existed as to the merits of their two remaining claims: under the Due Process Clause and the Dormant Commerce Clause. However, as we also discussed here, on August 27, 2026, following a 5-day bench trial, U.S. District Judge Michael H. Simon nullified the PI when he reversed his earlier ruling and upheld the RMA in its entirety. On September 24, 2026, NAW filed a Notice of Appeal to the Ninth Circuit.

NAW members have since been left in a quandary over whether or not they will be required to pay fees in January 2027 to Circular Action Alliance (CAA), Oregon’s producer responsibility organization (PRO), while the case proceeds in the Ninth Circuit. NAW explains its members’ position in its Motion: “In January 2027, months before the Ninth Circuit will hear arguments on the merits in Plaintiff’s appeal, CAA will issue its next invoices to NAW’s members. Members who pay will have no way to recover the money if the RMA is held unconstitutional; and members who do not will accrue compounding late fees and expose themselves to enforcement action by DEQ. As the Court has already found once, members caught in this double bind face irreparable harm whichever way they choose. That is no less true today … The balance of hardships tips sharply in favor of NAW and thus supports a stay.” 

In light of earlier rulings that only companies that were NAW members at the time of the February 6, 2026 ruling were covered by the PI, a stay, if granted, would likewise be limited to such members. Nevertheless, as legal challenges continue in Oregon and in other states, decisions made at each step of this larger legal process have broad implications for all businesses affected by state packaging EPR laws.