Hog Farm’s Neighbors Awarded $50M After Suing Over Smells, Spraying

Families who live near a hog farm in Bladen County, N.C., have been complaining for decades about bad smells, flies and excessive chemical spraying. But on Thursday, they finally scored a huge victory in court. A federal jury awarded the neighbors more than $50 million in damages, agreeing that the impact of the farm’s operation was so intrusive that people couldn’t enjoy their rural homes. Instead of suing the farm’s owner, the plaintiffs’ attorneys aimed instead at the hog-production division of Virginia-based Smithfield Foods, a Chinese-owned company.