Contact:
Paul Sobocinski, LSP,
507-342-2323 or 507-829-9498
Bobby King,
LSP, 507-523-3366
Jim Peters, attorney representing COACT, 320-763-8458 or 320-760-1292
6/12/03
ST. PAUL, Minn.-The Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled on Tuesday
that a precedent-setting nuisance lawsuit against a Nicollet County
factory farm could move forward. The ruling reverses a Nicollet County
District Court's decision to dismiss the case of Gerald Wendinger
et al. vs. Forst Farms, Inc., and Wakefield Pork, Inc. The ruling
allows the nuisance lawsuit to proceed to a jury trial. The Land Stewardship
Project (LSP) and Citizens
Organized Acting Together (COACT), along with the Minnesota Attorney
General, had been granted permission by the court to file amicus briefs
in support of the appeal. Amicus briefs are sought to support points
of law that the applicants believe are critically important to the
public and which are potentially precedent-setting.
The case
involves Gerald and Julie Wendinger, a husband and wife from West
Newton Township in rural Nicollet County, about seven miles northwest
of New Ulm. The couple is attempting to recover damages caused by
a factory style hog operation that was built near their farm in 1995.
The hog confinement is permitted for 2,400 hogs and uses a 1.6 acre
unlined open-air lagoon to store the liquid manure produced by the
operation. Persistent, obnoxious odors from the lagoon forced the
Wendingers to leave their farm over a year ago, said Gerald Wendinger,
who lived on the farm for 52 years. Wakefield Pork, Inc., located
in Gaylord in Sibley County, owns the hogs and pays Forst Farms, Inc.,
to raise them.
The Nicollet
County District Court dismissed the Wendingers' case by broadly interpreting
Minnesota's so called "Right to Farm Act" as exempting Forst
Farms' operation from a nuisance suit. However, the Appellate Court
reversed that ruling, stating that the lower courts interpretation
of the "Right to Farm" law was overly broad and that the
law does not apply in cases of negligence. The Appeals Court ruled
that the Wendingers' claim that the hog facility was operated in a
negligent manner should proceed to trial.
"This
was an important ruling for rural residents and family farmers. The
lower court ruling took away their property rights," said attorney
Jim Peters, who represented COACT in their amicus brief. "Large,
factory-style farms should be held accountable to neighboring rural
residents and family farmers when their operations stink neighbors
out of their home of 50 years, ruins their health or destroys their
property values."
The Appeals
Court also instructed the trial court to determine whether Wakefield
Pork, the corporate integrator who owns and controls the hogs in the
facility, is also responsible for damages caused by the hog operation.
Susan Stokes of the Farmers'
Legal Action Group represented the Land Stewardship Project in
its amicus brief supporting the argument that Wakefield Pork should
be liable for damages, in addition to Forst Farms. Wakefield Pork
is the nation's 21st largest pork producer, according to Successful
Farming magazine. Large corporate hog producers can use contract
operations as a means to avoid liability.
"Wakefield
Pork and other large contractors should be responsible for the damage
their contract operations cause to rural residents and family farmers,"
said Paul Sobocinski, an LSP organizer who is an independent hog farmer
from Wabasso, Minn. "They profit at the expense of neighbors'
quality of life and property values. Rural residents and farmers should
have the right to be compensated when these operations are a nuisance."
-30-
The ruling
is available on-line at: http://www.courts.state.mn.us/opinions/coa/current/op021603-0610.html.
