Beef Products Inc. (BPI) finds itself providing a much-needed product to the beef supply chain.

A S.D. judge is scheduled to hear oral arguments on whether BPI's $1.2 billion defamation lawsuit against ABC News should proceed.

For the new school year, schools in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Texas are once again buying the product.

Lawyers for ABC wanted the case moved from South Dakota to federal district court.

The lawsuit, filed by the Marler Clark law firm on behalf of the family of Robert Danell, blames the companies for the sale of “unreasonably dangerous” food that led to Danell’s death in 2010.

Judge Lawrence L. Piersol recused himself from the case that is being heard in U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota.

Lawyers for the U.S. network said a September lawsuit by Beef Products Inc. (BPI) seeks to inhibit free speech.

The suit named American Broadcasting Companies Inc. and ABC News Inc. as defendants, as well as reporters Diane Sawyer, Jim Avila and David Kerley as well as Gerald Zirnstein, Carl Custer and Kit Foshee, all of whom contributed to the alleged defamatory broadcasts.

BPI is alleging that the network misled consumers to believe its lean finely textured beef was unhealthy and unsafe.