Barring an 11th hour resolution, the fourth of 26 hog nuisance lawsuits was poised to proceed at trial Tuesday morning.
Settlement talks have been ongoing between Smithfield Foods and the lawyer representing the plaintiffs. Since the last trial ended Aug. 3, the judge expected to hear all 26 cases has been replaced for at least two of the next three trials, settlement talks have been ongoing, and appeals began in the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia.
The appeals were expected to be completed before the case involving Sholar Farms of Sampson County was to start. Its original trial date was Sept. 4.
But Judge Earl Britt, appointed to the bench during the Jimmy Carter administration, was removed by Chief Judge Roger Gregory of the appeals court. Britt is semi-retired, and it is unknown if or when he would return. Justice David Faber of West Virginia is scheduled to preside in the fourth and sixth cases; the justice for the fifth trial is not known.
In addition to Britt being removed, at least one ruling has come from the appeals court. A far-reaching gag order for practically anyone involved in the trial was deemed to have gone too far.
Plaintiffs rounded up by Texas lawyer Michael Kaeske have sued Murphy-Brown, a subsidiary of Smithfield Foods that is part of the Hong Kong-headquartered WH Group. Thus far, three trials have been won by the plaintiffs, with juries having awarded $549.25 million in damages. The amounts were capped by North Carolina law on punitive damages at $97.88 million.
In late October, Smithfield said it would begin covering pig waste lagoons in North Carolina, Utah and Missouri at its company-owned and contract farms over the next decade. This will capture the methane gas and keep out rainwater. The gas will be channeled to processing centers and converted into natural gas.
It was not clear if this change was related to the settlement talks.
The first of the 26 cases involved Kinlaw Farms, owned by Billy Kinlaw along N.C. 53 where about 15,000 pigs were being raised. The jury on April 26 said 10 neighbors were awarded $50.75 million, an amount reduced to $3.25 million by the punitive damages law.
The case of the Joey Carter Farm ended June 29, with plaintiffs Elvis and Vonnie Williams awarded $25.13 million — $65,000 each in compensatory damages, $12.5 million each in punitive damages. The punitive cap, $250,000 each, put their combined award from the jury at $630,000.
Pender County farms involving Elizabethtown-based HD3 Farms of the Carolinas’ subsidiary Greenwood Livestock LLC, owned by White Lake businessman Dean Hilton, were involved in the third lawsuit. A judgment of $473.5 million on Aug. 3 included $450 million in punitive damages and $23.5 million in compensatory damages. State law reduced the combined amount to $94 million.
HD3 Farms has operations in Bladen, Sampson, Robeson, Scotland, Columbus, Duplin, Hoke and Pender counties.
Hog farming provides 46,000 jobs and is an $11 billion industry in the state.
North Carolina is the country’s second-leading pork producing state behind Iowa. Supporters of farmers and the industry have denounced several of Britt’s decisions, including not allowing jurors to visit hog farms in question.
Kaeske, owner of a law firm in Austin, Texas, is a former member of the Dallas law firm suing Chemours, the chemical plant at the Bladen-Cumberland county line that produces the GenX compound.
McGuireWoods represents Murphy-Brown. The firm has headquarters in Virginia, an office in Raleigh and internationally in Beijing and Brussels.