In The News
Law360: 3 Takeaways From Smithfield’s Hog Farm Stench Settlement
When Smithfield Foods Inc. settled nuisance suits brought by hundreds of neighbors over the stench from hog waste lagoons, it placed a major legal threat in the rearview mirror hours…
Law360: OSHA Won’t Fine Meatpacker Accused Of COVID-19 Violations
The U.S. Department of Labor’s workplace safety arm will not cite a meat processing company investigated for alleged COVID-19 violations, despite a lawsuit by workers urging a Pennsylvania federal court…
Iowa Capital Dispatch: Iowa’s ‘ag gag’ has stifled investigations, despite pending court challenges
The legality of Iowa’s controversial “ag gag” law, designed to block undercover investigations at agricultural facilities, could soon be decided by a federal judge.
Bloomberg Law: Tyson Heads for Trial on Claims It Depressed Prices for Farmers
Tyson Chicken Inc. must face a trial on claims that it leveraged its buying power to drive down the cost of chickens it purchased for processing at a Kentucky plant,…
Joint Statement on Title VI Dismissal
The complainants (Food Chain Workers Alliance, the Rural Community Workers Alliance, the HEAL Food Alliance, Forward Latino, American Friends Service Committee – Iowa, and the Idaho Organization of Resource Councils)…
Meat Workers and Allies File Complaint Challenging Meat Processing Corporation Actions, Alleging Racial Discrimination in Disastrous COVID-19 Response
A nationwide coalition filed an administrative civil rights complaint with the USDA alleging that Tyson Foods and JBS have engaged in racial discrimination prohibited by the Civil Rights Act through…
FERN: Judge declares much of N.C. ag-gag law unconstitutional
A federal judge handed a victory late Friday to animal-welfare advocates when he declared that much of North Carolina’s ag-gag law violated the First Amendment’s free-speech provisions. The ruling could…
Washington Post OpEd: I work at Smithfield Foods. I’m suing them over putting our lives at risk for your dinner.
“I believe our plant hasn’t done enough to protect us, and I fear that we could suffer the same fate as a shuttered plant in Sioux Falls, S.D., where two Smithfield…
Bloomberg Law: Smithfield Workers Sue Over Covid-19 Exposure in Meat Plant
Smithfield Foods Inc. is being sued for allegedly failing to protect workers from coronavirus at its meat-processing plant in Milan, Mo., after at least eight workers have had to stay…