Former large scale confinement hog producers and insurers have agreed to pay to settle hog producers' defamation claims and the farmers' counterclaims for harassment, intimidation, and malicious inhibition of their right to petition the government. Hayes County family farmers Char Hamilton and Duane Fortkamp through their attorney Amy Svoboda, formerly of Ogallala, had submitted comments during the public comment period to the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality concerning a 44,000 hog confinement facility proposed to be built in Hayes County in 2000.

In 2005, a Keith County jury denied the validity of the defamation claims by the hog confinement plaintiffs Chuck Sand, Tim Cumberland, Furnas County Farms, and Sand Livestock Systems, Inc. The Nebraska Court of Appeals affirmed the denial of all claims by the jury earlier this fall. However, the higher court found fault with the jury instructions that had been put before the Keith County jury with respect to the right to petition counterclaims, even though all parties had agreed to the instructions. The Court's remand to the District Court of Keith County required the farmers' $900,000 damage award to be retried.

Justice prevails through this settlement with the complete capitulation of the hog producers,, says Richard Middleton of Savannah, Georgia, attorney for Fortkamp, Svoboda, and Hamilton, with Charles Speer of Kansas City, Missouri. "We were very pleased to have obtained such a positive outcome and complete vindication for our clients." said Charles Speer. This is a wake-up call to corporate bullies who think that they can sue to intimidate people for voicing their concerns about potential problems with large confinement facilities.

The consequences for trying to harass citizens from testifying about the air and water consequences of large scale animal production may not be immediate, but they are significant---as they should be. We believe that the outcome of this case makes clear that intimidation tactics such as suing people for commenting on issues before the state will backfire in Nebraska, says attorney Amy Svoboda, now practicing in Lincoln. .

I feel very proud to have been a party to a landmark case in Nebraska that says that intimidation and harassment to suppress our right to petition the government will not be tolerated, says Duane Fortkamp.

Standing up for what you believe in is very important to me, states Char Hamiliton. Protecting the waters and the fresh air was the driving force when we expressed our freedom to petition the government. Chuck Sand and companies sued us, testing our right, and our freedom prevailed.

The agreement also resolves coverage disputes among the hog producers and their insurers Bituminous Casualty Corporation and Great American Insurance Company of New York brought in a separate suit.