Arkansas Rice Farmers Ask to Drop Suit
by March 4, 2013 5:04 pm 105 views
An attorney for a group of four Arkansas rice farmers suing some of the state’s largest poultry companies has asked that the case be dismissed.
Scott A. Powell, of the Alabama-based firm of Hare Wynn Newell & Newton LLP, filed the request Monday in U.S. District Court in Pine Bluff.
The farmers’ suit alleged the defendants — including Tyson Foods Inc., George’s Inc., Simmons Foods Inc. and Peterson Farms Inc. — “knew that excessive arsenic in chicken litter used as fertilizer on many rice farms in Arkansas would contaminate the entire U.S. rice crop and infiltrate the general U.S. rice supply.”
The suit also claimed publicity regarding the contamination “would result in devastating financial losses to U.S. and Arkansas rice producers.”
The defendants disputed the allegations from the get-go, and the Arkansas Rice Federation stated publicly it did not support the suit.
A source familiar with the case said the court is expected to issue an order officially dismissing it later this week. The plaintiffs can re-file the suit within 12 months, but the source said that is unlikely.