Nuisance – intentional deprivation of the quite enjoyment of your property. North Carolina Smithfield Hog Smell case

In 2018 in North Carolina federal court awarded $473 million in both compensatory and punitive damages to Smithfield hog farms.

The jurors found the company liable for the nuisance conditions at a Bladen County farm in eastern North Carolina that raised 15,000 hogs annually for the company and disposed of massive amounts of feces and urine there. The neighbors of Kinlaw Farms had filed suit, complaining they had suffered for years from intense, putrid smells coming from open-air hog waste lagoons. They alleged that Smithfield Foods refused to spend money on technology that could address these problems.

The jurors declared Murphy-Brown interfered with the enjoyment of the residents’ property. The 10 neighbors received a total of $750,000 in compensation, plus $50 million in damages designed to punish Smithfield and WH Group. North Carolina state law forced U.S. District Judge to cut the punitive damages to $2.5 million. Still, the initial award total worried the hog industry and state agriculture leaders, even causing the North Carolina legislature to pass a law further restricting such litigation. 

The case went to appeal and eventually it was settled by Smithfield among the plaintiffs.