Pork giant Murphy-Brown battling insurers over who should pay for hog nuisance verdicts

If you drive through eastern North Carolina some days, especially in the wet heat of a summer afternoon, you might become immersed in the stench of hog waste. Many farmers hail it as the smell of money. Some neighbors of the industrialized swine operations denounce it as the foul air of misery.

But for pork producing giant Murphy-Brown and ten of its insurance companies, the odor represents nearly $100 million in damages and legal fees from hog nuisance lawsuits that, as it stands today, somebody will have to pay.

The insurance companies, though, have refused to pay Murphy-Brown’s claims. They argue in part that the policies don’t cover damages related to hog waste because of a “pollution exclusion clause.” Murphy-Brown is now suing the companies (see the complaint at the bottom of this story), accusing them of breach of contract.

The insurance case is being heard in North Carolina’s Business Court.

Read more: http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/2019/07/31/pork-giant-murphy-brown-battling-insurers-over-who-should-pay-for-hog-nuisance-verdicts/