Farm animals in court

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2002:

Hogs in court

The U.S. 8th Circuit of Appeals ruled in St. Louis on August
14 that Bell Farms Inc. lacks standing to challenge the 1999
revocation of a land lease which would have allowed Bell to build one
of the world’s largest factory hog farms on the Rosebud Sioux
Reservation in South Dakota. The new ruling confirmed an April 2002
verdict by the same court. Bell on August 15 said it will petition
next to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Humane Farming Association and
local activists have been fighting the Bell project at Rosebud since
1998.

U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Kovachevich, of Tampa,
Florida, on July 1 dismissed a federal class action racketeering
case filed against Smithfield Farms, the largest U.S. hog producer,
by Waterkeeper Alli-ance president Robert Kennedy Jr., who held that
pollution caused by Smithfield has harmed the property of 35 named
plaintiffs plus unspecified numbers of others. “This will not affect
our campaign to try to civilize the hog industry,” Kennedy said,
pledging an appeal.

Horses in court

U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy on July 10 ruled that the
USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service was within its
jurisdiction in allowing the Tennessee walking horse industry to
self-regulate. Under a three-year agreement with Tennessee walking
horse exhibit promoters, the promoters hire the inspectors who check
horses’ hooves and gaits for signs of induced soring to make the
horses step higher, while USDA veterinarians spot-check about 10% of
the scheduled exhibits. The American Horse Protection Association
argued that the delegation of authority violated the intent of the
1970 Horse Protection Act.