[USCC] FW: Verdict in Nuisance Suit Against Premium Standard Farms and ContiGroup

[Jim McNelly]

>Subject: FW: Verdict in Nuisance Suit Against Premium Standard Farms 
>and ContiGroup Forwarded by:
>Richard Hegg, CSREES-USDA
>202-401-6550

>Missouri Jury Returns $4.5 Million Verdict in Nuisance Suit Against 
>Premium Standard Farms and ContiGroup Monday September 25,

>  -- A state court jury sitting in Jackson County, Missouri returned 
> a $4.5 million combined verdict late Friday night against 
> industrial hog producers Premium Standard Farms, Inc.
>(NASDAQ:PORK - News) and ContiGroup Companies, Inc.  in favor of six 
>neighbors of the defendants' vast farm operations in northern Missouri.

>The three-week trial was considered to be a bellwether for the 
>remaining 54 claimants who jointly filed a mass action against the 
>two related defendants in 2002, and whose claims remain to be resolved.
>Plaintiffs Les and Denise Turner; Jack and Carlotta Arnold; and 
>David Gwin and his late father Roy Gwin alleged that the odors 
>emanating from defendants' concentrated animal feeding operations 
>(CAFOs) created an unreasonable nuisance.  After hearing evidence 
>centering on defendants' land application of massive quantities of 
>liquid hog manure, maintenance of multiple-acre wastewater lagoons, 
>and other odor producing activities at the Scott/Colby farm in 
>Daviess County, MO, the 12-person jury agreed, returning a unanimous 
>decision after five hours of deliberations which included a finding 
>of grounds for an award of punitive damages.  Minutes prior to 
>entering the punitive damages phase of the trial, defendants agreed 
>to settle with the six plaintiffs for the full amount of the 
>compensatory damages verdict.
>
>Counsel for the plaintiffs believe that the verdict will have 
>significant precedential impact on the remaining claims against PSF, 
>who last week agreed to be purchased by the industry-leading hog 
>producer, Smithfield Foods, Inc.  (NYSE:SFD - News) in a $652 
>million deal announced just last week.  ``The verdict has tremendous 
>implications for the claims still outstanding,'' stated Stephen 
>A.  Weiss of Seeger Weiss LLP in New York, one of the plaintiffs' 
>trial counsel.  ``The trial plaintiffs insisted that they would 
>endorse no settlement unless the jury's verdict was preserved as 
>precedent for their neighbors' remaining claims.  We believe that 
>PSF and ContiGroup will be bound by this jury's factual findings.'' 
>Mr.  Weiss' co-trial counsel, Charles F.  Speer of The Speer Law 
>Firm in Kansas City, agrees that PSF's exposure can no longer be 
>ignored, stating:

>``The folks living near PSF are just fed up with the company's 
>hear-no-evil, see-no-evil mentality.  After over ten years of 
>litigation, I trust that this verdict will serve as a wake-up call 
>to PSF.'' Also serving as trial counsel for the plaintiffs was 
>Richard H. Middleton, Jr.  of The Middleton Law Firm in Savannah, 
>GA, who played a central role in the trial proceedings.  Asked about 
>the impact of the $4.5 million verdict on the six trial plaintiffs, 
>Mr.  Middleton replied:
>``I've come to know these people intimately and anguish with them 
>over their plight.  Hopefully, Main Street will win out over Wall 
>Street and PSF will now invest their dollars in proper odor control 
>technology for the benefit of all its neighbors in northern Missouri.''