Mo. lawmakers pass limits on farm lawsuits

Thursday, April 14, 2011

JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri lawmakers sent the governor a measure Thursday that would limit the money people could win in nuisance lawsuits against agricultural producers and restrict their ability to sue multiple times for issues such as foul odors from large hog farms.

The legislation comes after hog-producer Premium Standard Farms warned last year that it might have to leave the state if it continued to be targeted by nuisance lawsuits. Such lawsuits have resulted in multimillion dollar awards against the company, including an $11 million award to a group of 15 northwest Missouri residents.

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Casey Guernsey, R-Bethany, said the goal is to protect agricultural producers from being forced out of business by multiple lawsuits.

“We’re not taking away anyone’s right to sue,” he said. “What it does is limit their ability to come back time and time again to the same lawsuit.”

The House passed the bill 110-45, with 11 Democrats joining majority Republicans in support of the bill. The Senate passed the bill previously.

The measure would only allow people who own at least part of the affected land to file suit against the farming operations. If a farming operation causes a temporary nuisance to another property owner, that person could seek damages based on the decline in the property’s fair market rental value.

If the property owner filed multiple lawsuits against the same farming operation for the same nuisance, it would be considered a permanent nuisance. Damages for permanent nuisances would be awarded based on decreases in the property’s fair market value.

Critics say that part of the legislation could allow large-scale hog farms that produce foul odors to move into an area and lower surrounding property values. They said the farming operations, sometimes called concentrated animal feeding operations, could then buy out the surrounding property at the lower price.

“Common sense would dictate that when I buy a piece of property that isn’t next to a smelly CAFO, as soon as that smelly CAFO moves in, the value of my property will go down,” said Rep. Mike Colona, D-St. Louis. “It seems to me that we are offering double protection to the CAFOs.”

Guernsey said the large farming operations would not try to buy out smaller property owners because fair market values of farmland are continually rising, not falling, even in areas near large farm operations.

“The fact of the matter is that rural property values are not declining,” he said.

Tim Gibbons, a spokesman for the Missouri Rural Crisis Center, said individual landowners who have property next to the large farming operations aren’t looking to win large awards in state courts through lawsuits. Instead, he said, the possibility of a large verdict might deter companies from creating a nuisance in the first place.

“The liability creates incentive to be good neighbors,” he said after the vote. “If you limit that liability so much, then instead of these lawsuits being an incentive for these operations to be good neighbors...then it actually becomes a disincentive.”

Gibbons also said the legislation was crafted to satisfy its sponsors’ parochial interests rather than improve the state’s economy as a whole.

Premium Standard Farms employs about 1,100 people in the economically struggling communities of northern Missouri. A processing plant in Milan which employs about 1,400 people also gets a majority of its business from Premium Standard.

On its website, Premium Standard lists a mailing address in Princeton, Mo., which is located within Guernsey’s district. The address is also within the district of Sen. Brad Lager, R-Savannah, who sponsored similar legislation in the Senate.

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seeno 2 years, 1 month ago

Are these people that the people elected working for the majority of the people or MEMBERS OF THE GOOD OLD BOYS CLUB? The Rep. who sponsored this bill recieved campaign contributions from Swift Premium, the sponser of the lead removal bill is a paint contractor trying to get past regulations that our in place for all our welfare,especially our kids. Amazingly the lead removal is backed by other lawmakers who just happen to be paint and drywall contractors. And of course there are lawmakers who have to help their big business buddies out by sponsoring all kinds of bills making it harder to get workmen's comp.,making MO a right to work state, making it harder to sue if you are victim of discrimination, etc. How is all this legislation making life better for the majority of us? Sometimes the only way to hold big business and contractors responsilble is through lawsuits and regulations. If big brother isn't looking over their shoulders they will do what ever they please.

3blindmice 2 years, 1 month ago

our lawmakers sold out long ago and become just another arm of corporate america

TheRickster 2 years, 1 month ago

Graceful,,everybody has to be paid. What you called "ginned" up is in your opinion. Just how does it feel to be perfect with all subjects anyway? Oh,,that was sarcasm. Notice it doesn't allow any resident to be a stinky neighbor,,just big business.

Moozrian 2 years, 1 month ago

I've been told to be a good lawyer you need to just win the argument...it has nothing to do with justice.....what a shame or is it sham!

seeno 2 years, 1 month ago

My comment was about whether the lawmakers were concerned about the people they represent or themselves and the people who contributed to their campagin. Many lawmakers are attorneys too. Does that make them parasites and shamsters? They are using their positions to get campaign contributions and then paying those contributors back by sponsoring bills that benifit those high$$$$ contributors. Are they any better than the attorneys you love to bad mouth? My daughter is an attorney and her mission is to fight white collar crime. She has vey high morals and I'm very proud of her.

TheRickster 2 years, 1 month ago

Sooo, Graceful,,sounds like you are a "glass half empty" kind of person. This subject would never get into JC's area because they would stop it before it ever started.

justaword 2 years, 1 month ago

Lawsuits and a free press make for honesty. They protect citizens against government and corporate tyranny. Most of us have concluded our legislature is the best money can buy. One might enjoy a gin and tonic outside, in open air Cole, but not near Premium Standard Farms in Putnam County without checking the wind direction.

I was driving one late spring across Missouri, Route 136 to be exact. For those that don’t travel northern Missouri, this route takes you through PFS territory and some of the foulest smelling, nostril burning, stomach gagging air imaginable. Mind you, I couldn’t even see the swine barns from the road. I was driving with my windows down, enjoying the warm spring air on public domain. I had to roll them up and keep them up for miles…and miles…and more miles.

Dropping down on State Highway 63, traveling south to Kirksville, my nose was acclimated so the windows came down. Stopping at a Casey’s for coffee, I rolled the windows up while inside. That was a mistake! Once back in my car, I found the smell had permeated the upholstery and carpet. I truly feel for those that have ties to the land- the area, and have to live in this part of northern Corporate Missouri.

Corporate Missouri says to those unfortunate air gaspers- with lower property values, “tough luck.” Passing a limit on lawsuits, our Republican legislature now says, “tougher luck!” The term suck-it-up, along Route 136, becomes literal.

seeno 2 years, 1 month ago

Amen. That's what I'm talking about.

asb 2 years, 1 month ago

Big Ag wants to limit the liability of their primary sources of income, so they're after "nuisance" lawsuits fabricated by "parasitic" trial lawyers. So, they pass a bill that limits how much their misbehavior can cost them, and how many times they can be called for that behavior. This type of tort reform is yet another attempt to limit corporate liability for criminal activity, all in the name of freedom. Freedom from consumer protection, findings of fraud, corruption, and stealing the future. There are ample engineering and biological solutions to the stench of cheap animal farming, but they cost more. A free market would make that evident, but the Big Ag monopoly makes it impossible to compete. Jay Nixon should not sign this bill, but he wants to be re-elected and could not do so without PSF and Monsanto money. And now a sop to the Prop B reversal argument. . . you realize this is just a means to get their hooves in the door . . . next they'll limit the liability of non-agrcultural corporations for their various, and righteous, means of limiting the cost of making the stuff that they want you to buy, even with rat parts, low quality steel, shoddy manufactoring, price gouging, worker exploiting . . . oh wait, they already cover those with three pages of safety instructions and direct ownership of the political process. Always for jobs, never for profit.

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