Agricultural News
Know Your Rights - How Oklahoma Protects Farmers From Nuisance Lawsuits
Mon, 29 Aug 2016 16:59:29 CDT
One of the first cases students of Ag Law programs read about, says Oklahoma State University Associate Professor Dr. Shannon Ferrell, is about a feedlot in Arizona that purposely established itself in a location far from urban development. Nonetheless, urbanization spread to the feedlot and lawsuits were soon filed against it with complaints about certain practices that bothered the new neighbors. Dr. Ferrell shared this case study with Farm Director Ron Hays recently, during a discussion about an Oklahoma statute that protects the right to farm.
This statute, not to be confused with upcoming State Question 777 which is a proposed constitutional amendment, is an existing law in the state that protects farms and ranches from what Dr. Ferrell refers to as nuisance lawsuits.
"What our current right to farm statute says is that if you are farming in compliance with generally accepted industry practices in accordance with applicable law and if you've been doing it for I believe two years," Ferrell said, "then that action, whatever it might be, is immune from a nuisance lawsuit."
Ferrell defined a nuisance lawsuit as a complaint against an agricultural enterprise, generally aesthetic in nature, such as odor, sounds, dust, etc.
Generally, Ferrell asserts that such cases come about as you get more intermixing of rural and urban areas. Ferrell says this statute, which has been on the books in Oklahoma for a few years now, has really not been tested despite more and more people moving from the cities out into the country. He suggests that either Oklahomans are accustomed enough with rural practices that this is a well settled principle already or that the statute is doing its job, keeping frivolous lawsuits from being filed, as a signal to legal counsel that the courts have a stance on such issues.
Dr. Ferrell points out that nuisance lawsuits have been filed against farms and ranches for decades around the country.
"That's happened in other states," Ferrell said, "and I think we took kind of a preventative measure in saying ok, well let's acknowledge that if we've got longstanding agricultural practices, we'll protect them if the city comes to the farm, rather than the farm coming to the city."
Listen to Dr. Shannon Ferrell and Farm Director Ron Hays discuss farmers' protection under Oklahoma's existing Right to Farm statute by clicking on the LISTEN BAR below.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI
Top Agricultural News
More Headlines...
