No Settlement In Md. Poultry Pollution Suit

BALTIMORE (AP) -- Lawyers have not reached a settlement in a poultry pollution case filed by a University of Maryland environmental law clinic.

U.S. District Judge William Nickerson said in a filing Thursday that while a settlement had not been reached, some progress was made in a settlement conference before Judge Paul W. Grimm on Wednesday. Attorneys in the case met for the closed-door settlement conference in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.

The clinic represents plaintiffs suing Hudson Farm and Perdue Farms Inc., claiming the Salisbury-based poultry company and the Worcester County contract grower are polluting a nearby waterway. Farm groups say the suit could bankrupt Hudson Farm and set a harmful precedent for other family farms.

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