Poultry industry keeps close watch on suit against feed makers

BY TRISH HOLLENBECK Northwest Arkansas Times

Posted on Monday, December 25, 2006

The ongoing debate over Northwest Arkansas’ poultry industry and its effects on the environment were featured center stage in a Washington County trial, one of several blaming the industry for harm allegedly caused by a feed additive.

Michael and Mary Green sued the feed makers and several poultry companies — although the poultry firms were eventually removed from the lawsuit by the judge — claiming a substance in chicken litter turned into a harmful form of arsenic when it was spread as fertilizer. They say the arsenic was the cause of their then-teenage son’s leukemia and asked for about $ 900, 000 in compensatory damages, claiming product liability, failure to warn and negligence.

The Greens ’ trial was the first in a multi-lawsuit case involving hundreds of plaintiffs making the same claim, that the spreading of the litter in the Prairie Grove area has caused cancer and other adverse health effects.

Although it was only one trial, the case was closely watched by those in the poultry industry, which is responsible for about 45, 000 jobs in Arkansas, paying wages of more than $ 1. 14 billion, according to the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture. Poultry farmers in Northwest Arkansas continue to watch lawsuits at the federal and state level over chicken litter and how it’s disposed, knowing verdicts in those cases could have a serious impact on how they do business and their profitability.

The outcome of the Greens’ case gave them a least a momentary chance to breathe a sigh of relief.

On Sept. 28, jurors took 21 minutes — after three weeks of testimony — to find in favor of Alpharma Inc. and Alpharma Animal Health Co., the makers of Roxarsone, the feed ingredient that plaintiffs claim breaks down into a harmful form of arsenic. Roxarsone is fed to chickens to enhance growth and prevent disease.

Much of the testimony in the case involved experts in toxicology, epidemiology and other medical fields.

Fourth Circuit Judge Kim Smith gave industry officials an early victory in the case, ruling before testimony concluded that the plaintiffs could not seek punitive damages in the case. The judge ruled that not enough evidence had been presented to claim the companies meant to cause Green’s disease.

One of the jurors in the case, Floyd Belt, said after the verdict was announced that the evidence was overwhelmingly in the defendants’ favor. He added, however, that he had “ great sympathy” for the Green family.

Still, he said, he felt Roxarsone had been scrutinized a great deal throughout the years, and that it has been around for about 50 years with no case brought before this one.

The Greens named several poultry companies in their suit, but Smith excluded them from the trial. The companies are George’s Farms, George’s Processing, Peterson Farms, Simmons Foods, Simmons Poultry Farms and Tyson Foods.

The next trial set to be tried involves the family of Austin Johnson, who died of brain cancer. That trial has been tentatively scheduled for April 23, but the attorneys representing the families have asked that the case be delayed until their appeals of decisions in the Green case are decided by a higher court.

In November, Smith extended the time for the Greens to appeal the September jury verdict until April 20.

Among the issues to be appealed are the judge’s exclusion of expert testimony for the plaintiffs.

The feed companies are fighting the request to delay the subsequent trial.