Mountaire class-action suit proposes $65M settlement for public

It’s a lawsuit that’s been years in the making, but the class-action suit against Mountaire Farms may be approaching a $65 million resolution. Rather than face a prolonged jury trial, the poultry processing plant and the citizens who sued them have agreed to a $65 million settlement that could potentially be shared among a huge swath of people.

Incredibly, the proposed settlement could include anyone who has lived or worked full-time in most of Millsboro or Dagsboro, at any time since mid-2000, when the company first acquired the Millsboro poultry processing plant. Although Mountaire does not admit culpability for the alleged groundwater or air contamination there, the company agreed to pay people who may have been affected in a roughly 25-square-mile zone.

The $65 million proposed settlement would offer payments to the Mountaire Settlement Class: any person who “on or after May 1, 2000, owned, leased, resided on, or were employed on a full-time basis” at any property located partly or entirely within either the “Groundwater Area” and/or the “Air Area.” (See the official map at www.MountaireSettlement.com.)

The settlement would resolve the Cuppels family (et al.) lawsuit against Mountaire in Delaware Superior Court. Instead of a big trial, the two parties agreed to a settlement to “avoid the expense, inconvenience and uncertainty of continued litigation.”

Read more: https://www.coastalpoint.com/news/sussexcounty/mountaire-class-action-suit-proposes-65m-settlement-for-public/article_7e272d46-715b-11eb-b920-a757297a87ab.html