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July 3, 2009

No delay expected in chicken litter suit

David Harper

A Tulsa federal judge is pushing forward to keep a Sept. 21 trial date in a lawsuit over pollution in the Illinois River watershed.

The defendants -- 12 poultry companies -- had filed a motion earlier this week asking for a delay, saying they need more time to handle the paperwork from Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson’s office.

The defense motion also argued that the case is unusually complex and that “billions of dollars” in

damages could be at stake.

But U.S. District Judge Gregory Frizzell noted during a hearing Thursday that the trial date has been established for some time. By September, he said, it will be time to get the case before a jury.

“We’re going to hold your feet to the fire,” Frizzell said.

Afterward, Edmondson said the defendants “would like to never have a trial.”

Most of Thursday’s hearing dealt with the Cherokee Nation, an entity that is not a party in the lawsuit, which was filed in 2005.

In May, the Cherokee Nation and state officials announced that the tribe had given the state “the right to prosecute any of the Nation’s claims” against the poultry companies for their alleged pollution of the Illinois River watershed.

The agreement came several months after a poultry company court filing raised the issue of ownership of the Illinois River.

On Thursday, attorney Thomas Green, representing Arkansas-based Tyson Foods Inc., one of the defendants, said the agreement between the state and the tribe is not permissible under the law.

Last year, the defense filed a motion asking the court to dismiss the lawsuit for failure to include the Cherokee Nation as a required party.

Attorney Robert Nance, on behalf of the state, countered Thursday that the “historic, unprecedented” May agreement is not improper.

He said the pact should not be viewed as an acknowledgment that the tribe is legally a necessary party.

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