RCRA Claims Dismissed Against Firm Client Cargill

In one of the largest natural resource damage suits tried in the United States in the last several years, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma dismissed on February 17, 2010, claims brought by the State of Oklahoma under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Faegre & Benson defended Cargill and Cargill Turkey Production throughout the litigation, which culminated in a five-month-long trial in Tulsa.

Alleging a variety of federal and state environmental theories, in 2005 Oklahoma hired contingency fee counsel to bring suit against numerous chicken and turkey producers. The state alleged that the structure of the poultry industry in a million-acre watershed resulted in the illegal disposal of solid waste as a nonpoint source of phosphorus pollution.