The car maker also says the couple's lawyers want to generate more lawsuits by contending it is consumer fraud to resell problem cars. The resale of cars that have been bought back is legal and regulated. Hog farmers want the National Pork Producers Council to accept a referendum that would end a major source of council funding. The farmers are in the Campaign for Family Farms, which thought it had won a producer referendum to kill the mandatory funding program. The checkoff program is a fee on hogs, with the money paying for industry ads and research.
Backers say it helps to create demand, but critics say the benefits go mostly to corporations.
The referendum had been authorized by Clinton administration Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman. When the Bush administration took office, new Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman overturned the results. Deputies arrested two men on drug-related charges in Thursday's raid, but no dogfighting charges have been filed. Henry County Sheriff Frank Cassell says investigators found evidence of dogfight operations, but he says they'd have to examine the evidence to see if they can bring charges. He says they seized 21 pit bulls, but one died on Friday from head and neck injuries.