Judge Denies Dismissal Motion in Farm Runoff Suit

A federal judge in Baltimore has refused to dismiss a runoff suit against Perdue Farms and an Eastern Shore chicken grower.

The defendants claimed the suit filed by the Waterkeepers Alliance, the Assateague Coastkeeper and others contains allegations not included in their original notice of intent to sue. Perdue also claimed it couldn’t be sued because the farm held the operating permit.

Perdue and the Hudson Farm, a contract grower in Berlin, were sued in March over claims runoff from manure was polluting a nearby waterway.

Judge William M. Nickerson refused to dismiss the suit, but ruled Tuesday that the Assateague Coastkeeper and the head of the group, Kathy Phillips, could not continue as plaintiffs because they had improperly filed the notice to sue.