In a court ruling stemming from last month’s fatal gas line explosion south of Bakersfield, a judge on Wednesday granted Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s request for a temporary restraining order forbidding a McFarland-based agricultural excavation company from digging without a representative of the utility present.

The order by Kern County Superior Court Judge Lorna Brumfield also requires both sides — PG&E as well as Big N Deep Agricultural Development Co. and its sister company, Jeff Alexander Farming — to comply with laws regarding notifications and marking of pipelines prior to excavation near natural gas lines.

Brumfield said she had never before been asked to issue a temporary restraining order forcing anyone to follow existing law, which she explained was expected regardless of a court order.

Big N Deep’s lawyer, Scott Perlman, argued against issuing the order, saying the utility’s request amounted to a “smear tactic” to publicly discredit Big N Deep. He also asserted the provision prohibiting excavation with a PG&E representative present would harm his client’s business because the utility sometimes fails to respond in a timely way to requests for pipeline markings.

PG&E’s lawyer, Nicholas Begakis, offered assurances the company would respond promptly to any notifications by Big N Deep that it wants to dig near a pipeline operated by the utility.