Forest, Troxler visit eastern NC to warn about hog farm lawsuits

BEULAVILLE (AP) Republican politicians are heading to an eastern North Carolina farm to talk about why they’re worried litigation involving hog farms could harm the state’s economy.

A top GOP legislator says Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, state Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler and other lawmakers plan to attend a news conference July 10 at a Duplin County farm to highlight the “unfairness” of recent and pending lawsuits.

Neighbors to farms producing hogs for Smithfield Foods have filed dozens of lawsuits complaining their odors and activities are a nuisance. Juries for two lawsuits already tried have returned multimillion-dollar verdicts against Smithfield.

The first verdict caused the General Assembly last month to approve new restrictions on initiating these nuisance lawsuits, passing it over Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto. But the new law can’t halt pending cases.