Ruling Not Yet Made in 10-Year-Old Chicken Waste Trial

Remember the massive chicken litter suit the former attorney general of Oklahoma, Drew Edmondson, filed against Tyson Foods Inc., George’s Inc., and a host of other poultry companies?

You know, the suit that alleged waste from broiler operations in Arkansas polluted the 1 million-acre Illinois River Watershed.

If you forgot about it, don’t worry. It looks like U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Frizzell forgot about it, too. Even though the trial ended in early 2010, after five months of testimony, he has yet to issue a ruling.

If you think that’s kind of odd, you’re probably not alone.

When Edmondson filed the suit in June 2005, it was kind of a big deal. The trial itself began in 2009 and lasted through early 2010. When it started, Chief Smith of the Cherokee Nation was in the courtroom.

When both sides submitted their findings of fact and conclusions of law in March 2010, certificate of service was posted for 91 attorneys representing an array of state agencies, poultry companies, and other interested parties. According to published reports, the state of Oklahoma spent millions arguing the case.

And then nothing.

Edmondson ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2010 and left the AG’s office at the end of that year. He was replaced by Scott Pruitt, who apparently has no interest in pursuing a suit filed by his predecessor and nemesis.

“Regulation through litigation is wrong in my view,” Pruitt said through a spokesperson, when his office was contacted by Whispers. “That was not a decision my office made [to file the suit]. It was a case we inherited.”

No news is good news for Tyson and George’s, of course. But what about the folks in Oklahoma, the ones who paid the tab for five years of fruitless litigation?

Whispers contacted the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, where Frizzell presides. This is what a court clerk said when asked about the suit.

“There will be a ruling in the case. They’re working on it.”

The clerk, however, did not say when that ruling would be issued.