DES MOINES, Iowa (Legal Newsline) – Two Iowa residents who unsuccessfully sued a hog farm for nuisance are now on the hook for the defendant's legal fees, the Iowa Supreme Court has ruled.
Seventy property owners sued Valley View Swine LLC in November 2013, claiming the farm was a nuisance because of “odors, pathogens, and flies.” They had to withdraw the suit because they had not first exhausted mediation, as required by Iowa law.
All but one of the plaintiffs refiled the suit on April 2, 2014, after exhausting mediation efforts.
The court broke the plaintiffs into smaller groups for separate trials. In the first trial held in February 2016, a jury returned ruled in favor of the defendants. Two of the other plaintiffs, Michael Merrill and Karen Jo Frescoln, voluntarily dismissed their complaints.
The defendants filed a claim for legal fees against those two plaintiffs. A district judge concluded the claims in the suit were frivolous and ordered the two plaintiffs to pay more than $18,501 in fees. The plaintiffs appealed.
The Supreme Court of Iowa on March 27 rejected the appeal in Michael Merrill and Karen Jo Frescoln v. Valley View Swine et al.
“We conclude the district court did not abuse its discretion in determining that Merrill’s and Frescoln’s claims were frivolous,” the Supreme Court ruled.
The district judge noted that Frescoln “personally assumed [a] profile as an activist against the confinement production of market hogs — describing the methodology of that industry as ‘sinful,’” the Supreme Court ruling said.
Her motive was to stop the hog farm because of the type of operation it is, which “is not a legitimate purpose under Iowa nuisance law,” the high court ruled.
The legal fees are reasonable, the Supreme Court found, although it said the defendants could have “ulterior” motives in seeking them.
“Presumably, their attorney fees to litigate the merits of these motions have far exceeded the $18,501.82 at issue,” the court said. “Yet an award of costs and expenses could have a deterrent effect on other potential plaintiffs. That, too, is permissible so long as the motions are well-grounded."
Iowa Supreme Court case number 19-0821