Federal appeals pending for hog lawsuits involving plaintiffs, Smithfield Foods’ subsidiary Murphy-Brown and Bladen County farmers are without a date to resume.
The clerk’s office of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, responding to an inquiry from the Bladen Journal, wrote in an email, “Decision times vary from case to case, and we are not able to provide information on when a decision will be reached.”
The coronavirus changed court calendars across the country, including this one in Richmond, Virginia.
Arguments were heard Jan. 31 from counsel representing both plaintiffs and Murphy-Brown, the subsidiary of Smithfield Foods named as defendant in all five cases heard thus far. Originally, there were 90 days until a decision would be rendered. A session of court planned in early May was scrapped.
Judgments before punitive damage law kicks in from the juries has totaled $549,772,400. The punitive damage law reduces that amount, including compensatory amounts, to $97.9 million.
“Joyce McKiver, et. al. v. Murphy-Brown, LLC” was a compilation of all five cases. Those included the Billy Kinlaw farm in White Oak, two farms in a case based in Pender County connected to White Lake commissioner and businessman Dean Hilton, two cases involving Joey Carter in Duplin County, and a case involving the Sholar Farm from Sampson County.
Michael Kaeske is the Texas lawyer representing plaintiffs in these and 21 more cases yet to be heard. Plaintiffs, carefully selected over years by Kaeske, number more than 500.
The McKiver case and the other four are considered something of a litmus test among all 26.
Three rulings by Judge Earl Britt — who presided in four of the five — are predominantly in the crosshairs. He allowed testimony about compensation of Smithfield’s top executives; he permitted testimony for the plaintiffs about odor from an expert but did not allow a different expert to testify for the defendants; and the definition of “willful and wanton misconduct” as he applied it to cases.
Arguments were presented to Judges G. Steven Agee, J. Harvie Wilkinson III and Stephanie Thacker.