A Couple Near Stockton, MO Receives $1.1 Million After Lawsuit With Nearby Hog Farm
A Missouri couple has been awarded $1.1 million in a lawsuit settlement because of the smell from a factory hog farm in the vicinity of their home.
Ed and Ruth McEowen, of Jerico Springs, MO filed a nuisance lawsuit back in 2005 against the hog operators after barns were constructed less then 1,000 feet from their house.
“Night was always the worst,” Ed McEowen said. “It’s like the monsters come out at night. The sickening stench just lays down here in the valley once the sun goes down. You could never invite anybody over because you never knew how bad the stench was going to be.”
The lawsuit, which was finalized in the middle of July 2009 in Cedar County Circuit Court, was filed against the owner of the barns, Doug Mullings, the supplier of the hogs the Missouri Farmers Association (MFA), North View Swine Co., and the Missouri Farm Bureau.
The suit claimed that Mullings built one of the six barns built without a construction, permit, which was in violation of Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MoDNR) regulations. In addition, the farm was in operation for six years without an operating permit from MoDNR.
Hog waste polluted a creek that runs the McEowens’ property, which they had made their home on for 30 years before that.
The settlement only involved odors up to the date of the settlement. However, Ed and Ruth said they would be ready to file another nuisance claim if the hog farm continued to harm and intrude on their quality of life.
“I’m sending them a message,” said the McEowens’ attorney, Michael David Holzknecht, of Stockton, MO. “Most of our clients have been living in their homes for generations. The big hog companies try to say its people from the city moving out (to the country) that don’t get ag odors. It is anything but that.”
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