November 19, 2020
Smithfield Foods Inc. said Thursday that it settled nuisance suits brought by hundreds of neighbors of its North Carolina hog farms after the Fourth Circuit affirmed the company's liability but ordered a $2.5 million punitive damages award to be revisited.
May 12, 2020
A North Carolina pork producer on Monday told the Fourth Circuit that the appeals court's recent ruling in an unrelated sexual harassment lawsuit shows that it shouldn't have to pay $2.5 million in punitive damages awarded to residents who lived near hog waste lagoons — but the plaintiffs disagree.
July 19, 2019
Here, Law360 takes a look at some of the biggest environmental cases to watch in the second half of 2019, including U.S. Supreme Court appeals based on Superfund and Clean Water Act issues and a challenge to President Donald Trump's authority to shrink national monuments designed by his predecessor.
May 29, 2019
A North Carolina pork producer told the Fourth Circuit that it should not have to face a $3.25 million judgment in favor of residents who lived near hog waste lagoons, arguing the outcome is a threat to the entire hog farm industry and should be reversed.
May 06, 2019
The Fourth Circuit heard from an environmental group and law professors Friday that a North Carolina pork producer cannot dodge punitive damages that are part of a $3.25 million judgment over hog farm odors just because the company complied with a "weak" regulatory scheme.
April 29, 2019
North Carolina residents who won $3.25 million at trial after suing a pork producer over a hog farm's practice of spraying urine and feces into the air urged the Fourth Circuit on Monday to reject the business' efforts to reverse the verdict.
March 06, 2019
A coalition of farm interests and pork producers have asked the Fourth Circuit to reverse a $3.25 million judgment in favor of North Carolina residents who lived near a large hog farm whose owners sprayed waste onto nearby fields, arguing it could devastate the industry.