Plaintiff in Chicken Farm Trespass Suit Asks for Change of Venue for Jury Trial

Plaintiff in Chicken Farm Trespass Suit Asks for Change of Venue for Jury Trial

By Thomas Wills

Neighbor sues chicken farm. Old story? Although there is an wide-spread, incorrect belief that the recent 106 review lawsuit challenging Delta County’s conditional approval of two chicken layer operations near Hotchkiss included the neighbors suing the owners of the operations (the suit was against the County), there was a second lawsuit filed in 2014 that does specifically target the owners of the Western Slope Layers operation that was idled a year and a half ago (late 2013).

The second suit is a personal one with neighbor, rancher/farmer and veterinarian, Dr. Susan Raymond, suing Edwin and Eileen Hostetler, owners of Western Slope Layers: “asserting that substantial pollution has come from the operation of Defendants’ confined chicken facility (Ed. – during the eighteen months it was in operation.) and caused her harm. Defendants have demanded a jury trial as to Plaintiff’s claims.”

On April 7, 2015, Raymond, in a filing by her attorney, asked the court to consider a change of venue for the trial from Delta County to elsewhere due the prospective local jury pool being prejudiced against her.  In putting forth an argument for the change of venue, Raymond cites coverage in the Delta County Independent, letters to the editor in the DCI, and advertising run by the Delta County Farm Bureau chapter in support of the Hostetlers. She maintains that DCI coverage, ads and letters were mostly negative towards her and her case.

One supporter of the Hostetlers, organic farmer Tom Kay of Hotchkiss, termed the move for a change of venue, a tactic to extend the case and delay the repopulation of the Western Slope Layers Powell Mesa barn. After the Colorado Court of Appeals reversed a lower court on the 106 case the case has been appealed to the Colorado Supreme Court. That, and the second suit, are delaying the re-opening of the facility, according to Kay.

In the filing, Raymond claims that due to her objection to the chicken barn, she has been ostrasized by a good portion of the Delta County traditional agricultural community that formerly supported her business. According to the filing:

“The treatment Plaintiff has received from these people is very rough. She has received threats on her life, people have said nasty things to her, and it is obvious that a significant portion of the people of Delta County, Colorado, feel very strongly that Plaintiff is wrong to raise issues about the operation of the confined chicken facility on the Defendants’ property.”

As of April 24 there had been no ruling issued on the change of venue request but according to Raymond a motion by the defendant’s attorneys to dismiss the suit based on the right to farm law was denied.

Raymond has resided in Delta County since 1964 and is a 1972 graduate of Hotchkiss High School. She has lived on her property since 1964 and is the daughter of Theo Colborn, a world acclaimed environmental scientist and founder of the Endocrine Disruptor Exchange (TEDX), and who recently passed away.

Over the course of the operation of Western Slope Layers, during 2012-13, Raymond and other neighbors alleged, and videos posted on You Tube  ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtCL2_bp2to ) appeared to show, a steady flow of fine particulate dust drifting at certain times of the day from the chicken barn towards Raymond’s nearby property, located immediately to the northeast across a county road. During the operation the Delta County Health Department investigated the general dust complaints and additional mitigations were installed to try and reduce dust exiting the facility and property. Neighbors continued to complain of respiratory and allergenic health issues and subsequent videos appeared to show a continuation of the fine dust exiting the facility. According to the Raymond the Delta County Health Department never investigated the validity of the alleged health impacts of the output of the barn only the output itself.

In September of 2013, Judge J. Steven Patrick ordered that Delta County close the business.  The chickens were eventually removed and transported to Arkansas. In the 106 suit both sides are still currently awaiting word if the Colorado Supreme Court will hear an  appeal of  the previous Colorado Court of Appeals ruling overturning Patrick’s 2013 ruling.

In the filing it is pointed out that Patrick was opposed by chicken barn proponents for  retention in Delta County, and of the six counties in the district, Patrick lost only in this one, receiving a little less (48.8%) than half the vote.