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Jul 9, 2018

If you follow agricultural law at all, you've likely seen news from North Carolina that a number of nuisance lawsuits that were filed against Smithfield Foods subsidiary Murphy Brown have resulted in two multi-million dollar verdicts in favor of the plaintiffs.  Many of the operations targeted in these lawsuits have been in existence for years and were not violating any state of federal statutes.  This has sent shock waves throughout North Carolina and the country and is particularly concerning to agricultural operations who wonder whether they could face this type of action.

Our guest today is Jake Parker, State Legislative Director for the North Carolina Farm Bureau.  Jake walks though the history of the lawsuits currently pending in North Carolina, offers some thoughts on various strategic decisions that have been made in the litigation, reports on the results of the first two lawsuits, and discusses a recent amendment to the North Carolina Right to Farm Act in an attempt to protect farmers from these type of lawsuits in the future.

Contact Info for Jake Parker

Email: jake.parker@ncfb.org

Phone: 919-782-1705

Twitter: @jakeparkerjr

Links to Topics Mentioned on the Show

Blog post discussing first nuisance verdict

Article discussing second nuisance verdict

Language of amended North Carolina Right to Farm Act