Each received $750,000 in 2006 in successful bid for damages
This website brought to you in part by the following sponsor:
Find out how to advertise here - Email us! [email protected]
In Daviess County Circuit Court on April 20, Jack Arnold, Carlotta Arnold and David Gwinn, all of Jamesport, filed suit against Smithfield Foods, Premium Standard Farms, KC2 Real Estate LLC and David Townsend. The suit alleges that the hog farms operated by the defendants are an ongoing nuisance, interfering with the plaintiffs’ right to enjoy their property.
Jack Arnold, Carlotta Arnold and David Gwinn each received $750,000 in 2006 in a similar suit heard in Jackson County against the same defendants.
The plaintiffs are represented by Charles Speer of the Speer Law Firm in Kansas City. According to Mr. Speer, his firm has hundreds of lawsuits pending in seven states against PSF and others. His firm is representing plaintiffs in more than 200 cases against PSF in Missouri. The firm primarily handles constitutional type claims for property rights and for victims of crime.
According to Mr. Speer, plaintiffs can maintain successive lawsuits until the problem is fixed, and this law is not unique to Missouri.
PSF spent over $10 million defending a recent case involving neighbors in the Berlin area. The plaintiffs received $11 million on March 4 in Jackson County. Fourteen of the 15 plaintiffs had received $100,000 apiece in a 1999 lawsuit against PSF. The verdict is being appealed.
This issue continues to be a topic of widespread interest. An editorial by Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster in Sunday’s St. Joseph News-Press asserted the state’s intent to hold PSF accountable for odor control at their hog farms. Koster wrote, "The experts determined that in order to reduce or eliminate odors ‘to the fullest extent possible,’ PSF must control odor from its barns. So far, PSF hasn’t done that."