Jury Hits Pork Giant For $50M For Hog Operation's Nuisance

A federal jury in North Carolina is awarding more than $50 million in damages to neighbors of an industrial hog operation responsible for smells, noise and other disturbances so bad they couldn't enjoy their rural homes.

Jurors on Thursday awarded 10 neighbors of a 15,000-head swine operation a total of $750,000 in compensation plus $50 million in damages designed to punish the hog-production division of Virginia-based Smithfield Foods.

Lawyers didn't sue the farm's owner, instead targeting the Chinese-owned corporation. Smithfield uses strict contracts to dictate how farm operators raise livestock the company owns.

The decision is the first in dozens of nuisance lawsuits filed by more than 500 neighbors against hog operations.

Smithfield says the lawsuits are a serious threat to a major agricultural industry and employer in North Carolina.