Source: M ichael Fielding, MEATINGPLACE, 7/7/15

A federal judge has ruled in favor of the Chinese-based parent of Smithfield Foods, requiring that references to the Communist Party, the People’s Liberation Army and the Chinese government be removed from a lawsuit brought by hundreds of North Carolina residents against Smithfield Foods subsidiary Murphy-Brown LLC.

U.S. District Judge W. Earl Britt agreed that mentions of the Communist Party and the Chinese government in the lawsuit are “inflammatory,” “highly prejudicial” and “have little to no bearing on plaintiffs’ underlying claims” in a ruling filed last week.
In March, WH Group filed a motion in the Eastern District of North Carolina federal court to bar residents suing the company over its hog waste lagoons from mentioning its name in court. It also requested that there be no mention of China or its huge demand for pork exports to that country.

Dozens of lawsuits representing more than 500 plaintiffs from eastern North Carolina allege that the Smithfield subsidiary was responsible for issues related to nausea and foul-tasting well water as well as problems stemming from uncovered wastewater lagoons.

“The allegations … concerning the Communist Party, the Chinese government, Chinese corporations, and Chinese demand for and purchases of pork are simply irrelevant to Plaintiffs’ claims of farming-related temporary nuisance in eastern North Carolina. Moreover, the allegations are scandalous, designed to inflame the jury and the public, and injurious to Murphy-Brown’s reputation,” the company’s attorneys had written in their motion to strike.

WH Group acquired Smithfield Foods, then the world’s largest pork producer, in September 2013 with a strategy that included exporting Smithfield pork back to China.

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