Mark Pastore accused Burton of bullying chefs and others when he said recently, "I'd like to sit all 100 of them down and have duck and goose fat, better yet, dry oatmeal, shoved down their throats over and over again."
Pastore says Burton's language inspires fear, and violates California's criminal threat law.
In 2004, Burton championed legislation to ban foie gras. His effort followed a series of ABC7 News I-Team reports which exposed how birds were being forced fed to make their livers larger than normal.