Attorneys in Poultry Case: No Jury Needed
Posted: September 16, 2009 at 12:43 p.m.
TULSA — Attorneys for Oklahoma and the Arkansas poultry companies it has sued agreed Wednesday there is no need for a jury trial in the state's lawsuit blaming the companies for polluting the Illinois River watershed.
The decision means U.S. District Judge Greg Frizzell will rule on all aspects of the case, which was set to go to trial Monday in Tulsa. On Wednesday, the judge pushed back the start of the trial to Sept. 24.
The two sides told Frizzell about their agreement Wednesday morning. Louis Bullock, a private attorney for Oklahoma, approached poultry company attorneys before court started Wednesday, saying the state no longer wants a jury trial.
This came after Frizzell's decision Tuesday to have a jury sit through testimony on only one issue - a state law claim that the companies polluted waterways.
The lawsuit blames Springdale-based Tyson Foods and six other poultry companies for polluting the watershed with bird manure farmers spread on fields as fertilizer.
The companies in October asked Frizzell to dismiss the lawsuit because Oklahoma Attorney General Edmondson failed to include the Cherokee Nation. While Frizzell did not dismiss the case, he did rule July 22 that Oklahoma's claim for $611 million in natural resources damages couldn't go on without the tribe's involvement.
The tribe's 7,000-square-mile area of northeastern Oklahoma includes the Oklahoma portion of the 1,700-square-mile Illinois River watershed.
The tribe petitioned to become part of the lawsuit Sept. 2, a request Frizzell denied Tuesday.
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