Ordered to pay $473.5M for pig stench........

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jltrent

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https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/compani ... ar-BBLt7Zs

A federal jury decided Friday that the world's largest pork producer should pay $473.5 million to neighbors of three North Carolina industrial-scale hog farms for unreasonable nuisances they suffered from odors, flies and rumbling trucks.

$
 
THREE neighbors??

let me guess.. they moved in after the hogs were already there?



insane.
 
guess its 6 neighbors..

boy .. this guy got lucky..

Wesley Sewell testified that he bought his house out of foreclosure without realizing the hog operations were nearby and sometimes fled to another home when the smells were too strong.


DIDN'T EVEN REALIZE IT WAS THERE!! POOF! ! ! Just appeard one day!!!
 
Probably a vegan judge. Just a covert way to help animal rights groups. Or they've got him in their pockets.
 
Well that means that Smithfield is gonna have to raise pork prices to cover their losses so maybe it will raise beef demand. Doubtful but it don't hurt to dream.
 
every livestock owner is now open to lawsuits from ANY neighbor.
 
sstterry":3o1yk61e said:
Txpiney":3o1yk61e said:
Probably a vegan judge. Just a covert way to help animal rights groups. Or they've got him in their pockets.

It was a jury. Judge reduced it to the amount allowed by NC law.

Seems crazy high amount to be awarded to so few people that were not injured. They could've been bought out for a fraction of that.
 
Seems crazy high amount to be awarded to so few people that were not injured. They could've been bought out for a fraction of that.

I hate to comment when I don't know the real facts, Smithfield did something to pi** the jury off. $450 million was in punitive damages. It was reduced to $94 million by the Judge pursuant to the state law. My guess is that what they did was very egregious or they flat out got caught in a lie. The infamous McDonalds coffee case is a good example. What wasn't reported in that case was that McDonald's got caught in several lies they told in Court under oath and the jury punished them for it by giving her an award of 1 weeks worth of McDonald's coffee profits. By the way, that lady never got that money, it was remanded for a new trial and it was settled.

The real facts are not always what the reporters write.
 
A quick google search shows that this is the 3rd jury this year to hit Smithfield (a Chinese owned company with $1 billion in profits last year) with a large verdict.

They allegedly have about 15,000 hogs per factory farm and they store the waste in large open (instead of covered) cesspools and spray it on fields next to or close to the residents' homes and the drift is carrying it into these neighborhoods. They have also been throwing dead hog carcasses into large open pits and just allowing them to rot, attracting flies, rats, buzzards, and other vermin.

I am not defending or condemning the verdict other than to say that I trust the Constitutional right to juries and I trust the jury to do what they think is right.
 
That doesn't stop someone from filing a lawsuit, or now be as you put it, "open to lawsuits from ANY neighbor".

Whether the plaintiff prevails or not, is a completely different story.
 
greybeard":1as167pq said:
That doesn't stop someone from filing a lawsuit, or now be as you put it, "open to lawsuits from ANY neighbor".

Whether the plaintiff prevails or not, is a completely different story.




this lawsuit sets a precedent for others to follow. It literally takes away the right to farm law.
 

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