Punitive Damages In North Carolina Hog Farm Cases Reduced

On April 26, 2018, a North Carolina jury awarded 10 neighbors $51 million in the first North Carolina hog farming case to be heard before U.S. District Judge W. Earl Britt.  Almost a week later on May 9, 2018, Judge Britt reduced the jury's award of $23 million in punitive damages to nearly $3 million in punitive damages because of a North Carolina state law that limits punitive damages to $250,000-per-plaintiff.  This was the first case tried of 26 lawsuits brought by 500 neighbors complaining about hog operations in eastern North Carolina against Smithfield Foods, the world's largest pork producer.

On June 30, 2018 a separate North Carolina jury awarded more than $25 million to a couple in the eastern part of the state who filed a nuisance lawsuit against Smithfield Foods for the swarms of flies, stench, rumbling trucks and other downsides of the hog farm next door.  In the Williamses' case, the jury awarded $65,000 to each in compensatory damages and $12.5 million