By Jennifer Dorsett
Field Editor
More than a week after a jury handed down a verdict to neighbors of a hog farm in Eastern North Carolina, the federal judge reduced the damage sentence from more than $50 million to $3.25 million.
Senior U.S. District Judge W. Earl Britt found that North Carolina’s state law capping punitive damages awards applied to the case.
This is the first of several lawsuits against Murphy-Brown LLC, a Smithfield Foods subsidiary, to go to trial.
The claim alleges the hog farm causes a significant impact to the plaintiffs’ quality of life.
A federal jury awarded 10 plaintiffs $750,000 in compensatory damages for odor and noise and $50 million in punitive damages.
Smithfield issued a statement following the initial verdict, saying the company would appeal, adding, “From the beginning, the lawsuits have been nothing more than a money grab by a big litigation machine.”
The ramifications of nuisance lawsuits being allowed to stand are not good news for animal agriculture, said Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) Director of Legislative Affairs Regan Beck.
“This is a dangerous precedent,” Beck said. “If this ruling stands, others across the nation, including in Texas, may try the same tactics. That could definitely have a negative effect on Texas farmers and ranchers, who contribute around $100 billion to our economy every year. We want to do everything we can to protect the people responsible for producing our food and fiber.”
Beck noted all 50 states have right-to-farm laws that are designed to protect farmers and ranchers from nuisance lawsuits that seek to undermine agricultural practices and operations.
Other agriculture organizations have voiced similar opinions, including the National Pork Producers Council, the National Pork Board and the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF).
“Before a jury can award millions of dollars in damages for so-called nuisance odors from a farm, that jury should at least be allowed to visit the farm and hear evidence about actual odor measurements at the farm,” AFBF President Zippy Duvall said. “It is worrisome that a misled jury has set a dangerous precedent that will motivate more greed-driven lawsuits against more farmers. We are hopeful this verdict will be overturned on appeal.”
In the company’s statement, Smithfield said, “These lawsuits are an outrageous attack on animal agriculture, rural North Carolina and thousands of independent family farmers who own and operate contract farms. These farmers are apparently not safe from attack even if they fully comply with all federal, state, and local laws and regulations.”