An Arkansas-based chicken processing company must pay more than $28,000 for repeatedly refusing to produce information to plaintiffs who sued the company over alleged wastewater violations in southern Delaware, a Superior Court judge has ordered.
The judge this week ordered Mountaire Corp. and two of its subsidiaries in Delaware to pay $18,000 in attorneys fees to the plaintiffs and $10,300 for the plaintiffs' share of billings from a special discovery master appointed by the court to help manage the case.
Judge Craig Karsnitz noted that he had warned both sides about the "lack of civility which permeated the case."
For nearly two years the defendants have fought over the court's jurisdiction, court filings show, and delayed the case using various tactics, including a refusal to disclose contents of documents that the judge saw as relevant.
"My urging to civility has fallen on deaf ears," Karsnitz wrote in his ruling.
The sanctions stem from a lawsuit filed by Millsboro, Del.-area residents against Mountaire Corp. of Arkansas and subsidiaries Mountaire Farms Inc. and Mountaire Farms of Delaware Inc.
The plaintiffs claim the defendants sprayed contaminated wastewater, consisting of chicken blood, guts and fecal matter, onto farm fields surrounding the plant for years, which polluted wells and sickened nearby residents. The complaint, filed in June 2018, represents more than 700 people.
Mountaire has filed multiple motions to dismiss the case in part for jurisdictional reasons. The company is based in Arkansas but has sufficient Delaware contacts and support for Delaware courts, court records show.
After a year of discovery disputes, the plaintiffs in January complained of "extensive redactions" undertaken by the defendants and requested a privilege log for all withheld documents and a detailed redaction log. Mountaire declined, saying "these are unnecessary" and wouldn't be produced.
Judge Karsnitz in his notes said "the war of letters continued" until Mountaire agreed to offer a redaction log in March, prompting more questions from the plaintiffs. A month later, an intermediary appointed by the court stepped in and compelled the chicken company to produce unredacted copies of several comprehensive corporate documents.
Mountaire argued the redactions covered trade secrets, but discovery master David White told the court that the defendants "simply do not want plaintiffs to possess the redacted information."
The documents were made available in May, and after looking them over, Judge Karsnitz said they "bear directly on the jurisdictional issue, the same jurisdictional issue which has caused substantial delay in the case."
"Five separate orders required Defendants to produce the documents requested," he said in ordering sanctions.
"The time for talking and urging is over."
A Mountaire spokesman did not immediately provide comment on the judge's decision.
A second case involving allegations of contaminated tap water at homes near the Millsboro plant was settled by Mountaire this year in Delaware district court.