Animal Protection Organizations File Appeal in Lawsuit Against Case Farms Alleging Severe Animal Cruelty Violations

RALEIGH, NC, UNITED STATES, September 5, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Yesterday, Legal Impact for Chickens and Animal Outlook filed an appellate brief in their lawsuit against major chicken company Case Farms and Case Foods alleging violations of NCGS Chapter 19A, a unique state civil animal cruelty law that provides injunctive remedies for animal cruelty.

North Carolina Court of Appeals case COA24-673 is a result of Animal Outlook’s 2021 undercover investigation at Case Farms’ hatchery in Morganton, NC, which processes more than 200,000 chicks daily. This investigation revealed chicks being killed, mangled, maimed, and trapped in improperly operated machinery. Birds were roughly handled, crushed, and driven over with machinery. Injured or deformed chicks were left to languish in trays with dead ones for hours. Some of the most gruesome acts involved gassing sick or injured birds before dumping them into a macerator, and in some cases, dumping fully conscious chicks into the macerator to be ground alive.

Legal Impact for Chickens is the plaintiff in the lawsuit, represented by co-counsel Animal Outlook and North Carolina appellate attorney Dan Gibson.

This lawsuit, originally filed on May 24, 2023, was followed by a motion to dismiss by Case Farms on August 16, 2023, which the District Court granted. Yesterday, the opening appellate brief was filed, which argues that the case was improperly dismissed.

“There has been a small but mighty team of people who have been successfully combating the implicit assumption that just because cruelty is happening in a commercial setting, it means these companies have carte blanche to be as cruel as they want to those animals. This is not reflected in the law. The law is not written that way. Public values do not condone animal cruelty. And the bigger point is that if you’re looking at animal cruelty, it is happening almost exclusively in commercial settings,” says Animal Outlook’s Executive Director Cheryl Leahy. “We are demanding that Case Farms stop this cruelty immediately. And we encourage the public to review the video and understand just how widespread the cruelty is in the chicken industry, and whether that’s something they can tolerate or would they rather choose to remove their purchasing dollars from this cruel system."

"Corporations aren’t above the law. North Carolina’s animal cruelty law applies to all settings, including commercial operations. We are here to ensure that Case Farms follows the law," says Legal Impact for Chickens’ President Alene Anello. "Chickens are sensitive, intelligent animals who deserve to be treated with kindness. Our lawsuit aims to stop the ongoing cruelty inflicted on these birds out of laziness and carelessness."

Earlier this year Case Farms was under fire after the US Dept. of Labor found it had failed to comply with federal safety regulations and exposed workers to multiple hazards while they processed chickens for commercial sale at a Case Farms plant in Ohio.

Animal Outlook and Legal Impact for Chickens are committed to holding Case Farms accountable and ensuring that all animals, regardless of their commercial context, are treated in accordance with the law. Even when–especially when–this is part of a cruel system of business operations.

ABOUT ANIMAL OUTLOOK

Animal Outlook is a national nonprofit 501(c)(3) animal advocacy organization. It is strategically challenging animal agribusiness through undercover investigations, legal advocacy, corporate and food system reform, and disseminating information about the many harms of animal agriculture, empowering everyone to choose vegan. https://animaloutlook.org/

ABOUT LEGAL IMPACT FOR CHICKENS

Legal Impact for Chickens (LIC) is a 501(c)(3) litigation nonprofit. LIC brings strategic lawsuits for chickens and other farmed animals. It develops and refines creative methods to enforce existing cruelty laws in factory farms, and to sue companies that break animal-welfare commitments.

Contact: Belinda Davis
Animal Outlook
+1 971-712-8328
press@animaloutlook.org