A federal jury awarded six neighbors of industrial hog farms in North Carolina $473.5 million in damages on Friday. The lawsuit is the third so far on the waste-management practices of Smithfield-associated hog farms in the state. Earlier verdicts have awarded plaintiffs about $75 million.
The residents of Pender County, North Carolina, alleged that the hog farms’ management of manure—which typically involves storing manure in open-air lagoons and spraying it onto fields—created intolerable odors, attracted flies, and reduced their ability to enjoy their properties. The farm in question, Greenwood Farms, housed about 7,400 hogs in three concrete barns.
The plaintiffs sued Smithfield, which is owned by China’s WH Group, because they alleged that Smithfield has such stringent control over how its farmers conduct their operations that the company itself is responsible for the environmental and health effects of those farms. The jury awarded plaintiffs $23.5 million in compensatory damages and $450 million in punitive damages; the latter will be decreased to $94 million in compliance with state law.
North Carolina lawmakers have responded to the series of lawsuits by restricting the ability of farm neighbors to bring such lawsuits in the future. In June, the state General Assembly overrode Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto on the Farm Act, which expands the state’s right-to-farm law by restricting people’s ability to bring lawsuits against farm operations for impeding their quality of life or reducing the value of their property.