Neither the Hudson family farm nor Perdue Farms can get compensated for their legal costs in their long battle with an environmental group over allegations of polluting a nearby waterway.
The Salisbury Daily Times reports that’s the ruling from a federal judge after a federal court’s decision that the family, which grows chickens for Perdue, did not cause any such pollution.
Perdue spokesperson Julie DeYoung issued a statement saying that the company was disappointed that the court did not choose to hold the Waterkeeper Alliance that brought the suit responsible for the costs.
Meanwhile, the Alliance said it was pleased with the judge’s ruling which could have cost the environmental group up to $2.5 million.
Opinion (AP)
U.S. District Court Judge William M. Nickerson tossed out the Waterkeeper Alliance's Clean Water Act case, criticizing the environmental group for not conducting adequate sampling to identify the source of pollution found near Alan Hudson's Berlin farm. (AP)
Nickerson wrote that the Purdue and the Hudsons could not show that the claim was "frivolous, unreasonable or without foundation." He wrote that the only proven source of discharge was from cow manure from the Hudson's beef cattle operation.
Court papers said that the attorney’s fees for the Hudson family amounted to a half a million dollars.
