The Maryland House of Delegates amended the state budget on March 13 to make up to $300,000 available to help poultry producer Alan Hudson and his operation pay legal bills after being sued unsuccessfully over alleged poultry pollution. Hudson was a grower for Perdue Farms, and both were sued in March 2010 by the Waterkeeper Alliance for allegedly discharging chicken litter into a tributary of the Pocomoke River.
Delegate Norman Conway, D-Wicomico, said the move was appropriate to help the Hudson family on the Eastern Shore, the Associated Press reported. The case prompted criticism from Gov. Martin O'Malley and state lawmakers in both parties.
A federal judge tossed out the lawsuit in December 2012, chastising the Waterkeeper Alliance for not conducting adequate sampling. The group was represented by the University of Maryland Environmental Law Clinic.
"This became such an issue for the farming community of our state and even more so for the Eastern Shore," said Conway. "This family was put under tremendous stress when it should have been ended with a decision by the Maryland Department of Environment — and it wasn't — but it did carry this family almost to the brink of losing everything they had."
The budget bill amendment, which was approved on a voice vote, would enable the state's Board of Public Works to make up to $300,000 available to the family, based on documented legal expenses and court costs.
