GEORGETOWN, Del. (Legal Newsline) – A Delaware judge has approved the $65 million class action settlement that resulted from a lawsuit against a chicken farm in Millsboro.
Superior Court Judge Craig Karsnitz on April 12 approved the settlement, which has drawn claims from 3,000 individuals around a chicken processing facility owned by Mountaire Farms. The original lawsuit alleged waste from the farm seeped into groundwater, causing health effects and losses of property values.
Mountaire denied the allegations and said plaintiffs lawyers could not prove them but chose settlement to avoid the uncertainty of a trial. A similar federal court case has a separate, confidential agreement to resolve the state class’ claims.
“It is always difficult to determine if enough is enough in any settlement,” Karsnitz wrote. “Arguments can always be made that settlement amounts should be larger.
“The difficulty is exacerbated where, as here, significant liability issues exist… From a judicial perspective I find it difficult to evaluate liability issues prior to trial. Here experienced trial counsel decided the settlement amount is fair. The amount is substantial.”
The class was represented by lawyers at Baird Mandalas Brockstedt in Lewes and Schochor, Federico and Staton in Baltimore.
Plaintiffs Gary and Anna-Marie Cuppels filed their lawsuit in June 2018. They claimed Mountaire disposed of wastewater and liquefied sludge that was contaminated on lands near their property.
They alleged this caused nitrates and other contaminants to enter their wells. They also claimed air pollution from spray irrigation and sludge operations.
More than 20 depositions were taken during discovery. Plaintiffs hired a hydrogeologist and todicologist to bolster their argument.
Objectors claimed the plaintiffs lawyers never intended to litigate the case and only wanted a quick settlement – an assertion rejected by Karsnitz.
Karsnitz approved the lawyers’ request for 25% ($16.25 million) of the settlement.
“This level percentage fee is consistent with, and at the low end of the standard in tort cases,” he wrote.
“This type of request always raises the temptation to limit the fee to benefit the class, and at the expense of the attorneys. The temptation increases with the size of the settlement. I am going to resist the temptation and approve the fee request.”