Jury Rules Against Smithfield Foods in Another Hog Nuisance Suit

A federal jury is again siding with neighbors who complained that a Smithfield Foods industrial-scale hog operation in North Carolina was such a nuisance it damaged how they lived their lives.

The jury on Wednesday said eight neighbors should be compensated with between $100 and $75,000. The same jurors began hearing more testimony into whether the Virginia-based, Chinese-owned pork giant should be forced to pay more as punishment for their business practices.

Smithfield Foods owns Sholar Farm, the Sampson County animal feeding operation housing up to 7,000 swine. Neighbors complained about powerful odors, clouds of flies, midnight noises and screeching trucks.

Jurors in three earlier, related cases decided Smithfield Foods should pay nearly $550 million in penalties. Those assessments will be reduced under a state law that limits punishment.