North Carolina Environmental Justice Network (NCEJN) and Rural Empowerment Association for Community Help (REACH) filed an amicus brief that provided important racial justice context and legal argument in the pork industry’s appeal of the jury verdict in the first industrial hog nuisance case, which awarded over $50 million to 21 African American plaintiffs (which was reduced under NC’s law to $3.25).
“Amici have a critical interest in this case and in holding the pork industry accountable for the environmental, racial, and quality of life adversities its operations impose on nearby residents. Despite their efforts and the overwhelming anecdotal, scientific, and environmental evidence of the discriminatory harms on surrounding communities, neither the industry nor the state administrators responsible for regulating it have taken the necessary steps to address the adverse effects. Only the court, through these nuisance claims filed by ordinary citizens, has successfully demanded accountability.”
