The twelve poultry companies being sued by the state of Oklahoma for allegedly polluting the Illinois River watershed with poultry waste had their motion for a bench case denied by U.S. District Judge Gregory Frizell. This means that the state of Oklahoma will have a jury trial for part of its civil lawsuit against the poultry companies.In his ruling on Wednesday, August 27, 2009, Judge Frizell held that a jury was capable of determining whether or not the poultry companies are liable for penalties under Oklahoma’s anti-pollution laws. A specific issue the jury will determine is whether pollution of state waterways constitutes a public nuisance.
According to Associated Press’s Justin Juozapavicious’s story for The Oklahoman, Judge Frizell also ruled that Oklahoma could not have a jury trial on the count dealing with the state’s Registered Poultry Feeding Operations Act, “because it doesn’t allow for the recovery of civil penalties.” The companies had wanted the entire case to be a bench trial because, in their opinion, previous pre-trial rulings eliminated the need for a jury.
Earlier this year Judge Frizell ruled that the state could not recover the $611 million in monetary damages it sought from the twelve poultry companies because the state failed to name an indispensible party to the suit as a plaintiff. The indispensible party in this case is the Cherokee Nation, which is located in the Illinois River watershed in Oklahoma.
Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson brought the suit against the poultry companies for allegedly applying chicken waste to the land in such excessive quantities that the waste ended up running off the land and polluting the Illinois River watershed. Gary Mickelson, spokesman for Tyson Foods Inc., one of the 12 companies named in the lawsuit, said the company looks forward to the trial where they can show, ‘“how the poultry industry supports the lawful and responsible use of poultry litter as an organic fertilizer on farmland.”’
The area where the poultry companies have their poultry houses in the watershed is also the largest area in the United States for broiler (chickens raised for their meat) production. The lawsuit is considered quite important because of the potential precedential effect it could have on other similar lawsuits challenging the way poultry companies operate.
To read the Oklahoman story click here.
To read previous U.S. Agricultural and Food Law and Policy Blog posts on the case click here and scroll down.
Posted: 08/28/09
