Powell v. Tosh

276 F.R.D. 553, 81 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 222, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 118720, 2011 WL 4862401
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Kentucky
DecidedOctober 13, 2011
DocketNo. 5:09CV-121-R
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 276 F.R.D. 553 (Powell v. Tosh) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Powell v. Tosh, 276 F.R.D. 553, 81 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 222, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 118720, 2011 WL 4862401 (W.D. Ky. 2011).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

THOMAS B. RUSSELL, Chief Judge.

Defendants have filed a motion to strike Plaintiffs’ Response to Defendants’ Expert Report (DN 236). Plaintiffs have filed a response (DN 237). Defendants have filed a reply (DN 242). This matter is now ripe for adjudication. For the following reasons, Defendants’ motion to strike (DN 236) is DENIED.

Plaintiffs have filed a motion for class certification (DN 178). Defendants have filed a response (DN 191). Plaintiffs have filed a reply (DN 220). This matter is now ripe for adjudication. For the following reasons, Plaintiffs’ motion to certify a class (DN 178) is GRANTED IN PART.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs, residents and property owners in Marshall County, Kentucky, filed suit against the defendants in May 2009. Defendants Eric Howell, Ron Davis, and Heather Howell Davis (“Defendant Farmers”) are Marshall County residents and property owners who have constructed swine barns on their property, located on Brewers Highway (“Ron Davis Hog Barn”) and Lela Green Road (“Heather Howell Davis Barns”). Plaintiffs allege that, in the operation of these swine barns, Defendant Farmers will from time to time pump accumulated swine waste into a “deep pit” under the swine barns to be applied on row crop land owned by, or available to, Defendant Farmers. Plaintiffs have further alleged that the swine barns were built according to the instructions of Tosh Farms General Partnership and pursuant to a Swine Service Agreement with Tosh Farms General Partnership. Plaintiffs contend that these swine barns are a nuisance and have caused them injury.

While each plaintiff alleges that they suffer from “recurring intolerable noxious odors emanating from the Defendants’ swine waste facilities constituting a nuisance and decreasing the value of [their] residence and real property,” some plaintiff's allege other injuries. For example, Plaintiff Rhonda Free alleges personal injuries from the noxious odors including severe nausea, vomiting, respiratory problems, and water contamination while Plaintiffs Tommy and Bridget Powell also allege extreme stress and anxiety as a result of exposure to the noxious odors.

Plaintiffs have also brought claims against the Tosh Defendants: Jimmy Tosh; Tosh Farms, LLC; Bacon By Gosh, Inc.; Shiloh Hills, LLC; Pig Palace, LLC; and Tosh Pork, LLC. Jimmy Tosh and his family own several affiliated companies which are engaged in commercial swine farming in both Kentucky and Tennessee. Each of these companies is engaged in a particular aspect of the swine farming industry. For example, Tosh Pork, LLC, is the owner of the swine housed in Defendant Farmers’ swine barns; Bacon by Gosh, Inc., is engaged in the transportation of swine; and Shiloh Hills, LLC, makes pre-cast concrete components for the use in farming. Tosh Farms, LLC, was dissolved in 2010 and its responsibilities seem to have been largely assumed by Tosh Pork, LLC. Tosh Farms General Partnership (“Tosh Farms”) coordinates the activities of the Tosh group of companies. At any given time these entities own nearly half a million swine at various stages of development. These entities contract with growers, like Defendant Farmers to raise these swine from juveniles to market-ready adults.

Several years ago, Tosh Farms sought to expand its business in Western Kentucky and began seeking additional growers including Defendant Farmers. There has been opposition to this expansion including the filing of formal complaints with Kentucky state agencies. For example, in order to [558]*558operate a hog barn, the owner or operator must be issued certain permits from the Kentucky Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet (“Cabinet”) and the Kentucky Division of Water (“Division”). Several individuals opposed the issuance of permits to hog farm owners and operators by filing objections during the public comment period. Despite these objections, the necessary permits were issued and several hog barns are now in operation.

The Plaintiffs’ Complaint sets out common law claims for temporary nuisance, permanent nuisance, trespass, negligence, negligence per se, product liability, gross negligence, civil conspiracy, negligent encouragement, and battery against each defendant. Plaintiffs ask for their claims to be certified as a class action and proposed the following class definition:

All residents and property owners within a 1.25 mile radius of the Ron Davis Tosh Farms Standard Hog Barn subject to the Tosh Swine Services Agreement and all residents and property owners within such radius of all other Tosh Farms Standard Hog Barn subject to the Tosh Services Agreement in Marshall, Hickman, Fulton, and Carlisle Counties, Kentucky as identified in the December 12, 2010 Report by Dr. Eric Winegar, subject to the provisions to opt out of such class and opt into such class as the Court may approve, and excluding the Defendants and their agents, employees, and related legal entities, in Marshall, Hickman, Fulton, and Carlisle Counties, in Kentucky.

Defendants oppose the certification of a class.

DISCUSSION

1. Defendants’ Motion to Strike

Plaintiffs filed the report of their class action expert witness, Dr. Eric Winegar, entitled “Delineation of the Class From Measurements and personal Observation Data: Denton, KY and Similar Neighborhoods,” (“Plaintiffs’ Initial Report”) on December 1, 2010 (DN 144). Upon motion of Defendants and with no opposition from Plaintiffs, the court entered an agreed order extending current scheduling order deadlines and giving Defendants until April 15, 2011 to disclose their class action experts and until April 22, 2011 to file their response memorandum to Plaintiffs’ motion for class certification (DN 187). Additionally, the agreed order stated that the Plaintiffs must depose Defendants’ class action expert witness and file their reply memorandum in support of their motion for class certification on or before May 15, 2011.

Defendants served the report of their class action expert, Dr. Winges, on April 15, 2011 and filed their response to Plaintiffs’ motion for class certification on April 22, 2011. The deposition of Dr. Winges was completed on May 12. Plaintiffs were granted three extensions to file their reply (DN 197, DN 214, and DN 218) and finally did so on June 15, 2011. At the same time as filing their reply, Plaintiffs filed Dr. Winegar’s response to the report of Dr. Winges, entitled “Response to Defendants’ Expert Report: ‘An Investigation of Alleged Odors from Livestock Barns in Kentucky” (“Plaintiffs’ Response Report”). Defendants filed a motion to strike this report on August 8, 2011 (DN 236).

Defendants assert that Plaintiffs’ Response Report should be stricken because it is untimely under the Court’s scheduling order, untimely under Rule 26(a)(2)(D)(ii), and an improper attempt to revise and expand Plaintiffs’ Initial Report. Defendants’ Motion to Strike, DN 236-1 at 1. Plaintiffs assert that Defendants’ motion to strike should be denied because, among other things, Defendants’ motion was untimely, the Plaintiffs’ Response Report was timely, and in the alternative, that any untimeliness was harmless.

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure

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Related

Powell v. Tosh
929 F. Supp. 2d 691 (W.D. Kentucky, 2013)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
276 F.R.D. 553, 81 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 222, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 118720, 2011 WL 4862401, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/powell-v-tosh-kywd-2011.