TALKING TURKEY TORTS AND LAWSUITS

By TONI ELLINGTON

In honor of Thanksgiving, this blog is devoted to lawsuits and legal actions involving the guest of honor at many of our Thanksgiving Day celebrations – the turkey.  On the day before Thanksgiving, President Obama will once again pardon one or two turkeys in a White House Rose Garden ceremony.  The turkeys are delivered by the National Turkey Federation, and their names are announced.  The President then issues “pardons” to the turkeys, which are then taken to Morven Park in Leesburg, Virginia to live out their natural lives without becoming entrees.  Like last year’s turkeys, “Popcorn” and “Caramel,” the 2014 turkeys will become semi-celebrities and tourist attractions at the park.

The formal turkey pardon ceremony dates back to President George H.W. Bush in 1987, although there are some accounts that President John F.  Kennedy and maybe even President Abraham Lincoln also pardoned turkeys or spared turkeys from becoming the main course for the White House Thanksgiving dinner.

Aside from this legal spoofery, what other lawsuits or legal actions have arisen from turkeys or Thanksgiving?  The case books are full of lawsuits filed against poultry farmers for Clean Water Act violations and water pollution from farm runoff and discharge of animal litter into waterways.  See, e.g. Waterkeeper Alliance Inc. v. Alan and Kristin Hudson Farm and Perdue Farms, Inc., Case No. 10-487 (D. Md.)(alleging pollution of Chesapeake Bay); City of Tulsa v. Tyson Foods, et al., Case No. 01-cv-0900 (N.D. Okla.)(alleging pollution of the Arkansas River).  Thanksgiving can also lead to disasters such as food poisoning from improperly cooked turkey or fires and injuries from turkey fryers.  See Elisha Naumann v. K Mart Corp., Case No. 12-L-1861, Madison County, IL Circuit Court, in which the plaintiff filed suit when a 50-pound turkey fryer fell on her head in the store.

In a 2011 case involving the workers who prepare the turkeys for the market, the EEOC sued Hill Country Farms, dba Henry Turkey, a Texas poultry company, claiming the company engaged in a pattern of unlawful discrimination against developmentally disabled workers for over 20 years.  The case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, Case No. 3:11-cv-00041. The EEOC claimed these workers were paid just $65 per month to gut turkeys for the company’s processing plant.  The Department of Labor also filed a separate complaint against the company, alleging wage and overtime violations.  In May of 2013, a jury awarded $240 million in damages against the company.

Right now, the newspapers and television commercials feature holiday advertisements for enticing turkey dinners.  However, in Brookline, Massachusetts, the turkeys are fighting back, requiring the local police to take action.  Wild turkeys have attacked groups of high school students, a crossing guard, and residents of the town in the past few weeks.  Victims and witnesses say that groups of six or more turkeys chased them and tried to charge at them.  The wild turkeys have been known to claw at the faces of people.   The turkey attacks in Brookline have been reported as far back as 2007 or before.  The wild turkeys can grow to be 20 pounds or more, and can stand up to four feet high.

When families gather together over Thanksgiving dinner, the result is not always happy.  Members of the Smith family in Hudson, Florida, ended up in jail on Thanksgiving Day 2009, when a dispute over the ingredients in the stuffing resulted in a fist fight.  At least two family members were charged with assault and battery.

HAVE A HAPPY THANKSGIVING!