Opinion ID: 175660
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Early Stages of the Litigation

Text: On June 13, 2005, the State sued Tyson in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma. According to the initial complaint, Tyson and the individual poultry farmers improperly disposed of poultry waste by both storing it and using it as fertilizer on lands within the IRW. Because the waste contains high levels of certain chemicals and microbes that are harmful to the environment and human health, these disposal practices allegedly result in injury to the lands, waters, and biota of the IRW. The complaint further alleged that Tyson is responsible for these disposal practices and thus the resultant injury to the IRW. The State brought suit as owner of the streams and rivers of the IRW, as holder of all natural resources within the State's boundaries in trust on behalf of and for the benefit of the public, Complaint at 3, State of Oklahoma v. Tyson Foods, Inc., No. 05-cv-0329 JOE-SAJ, 2005 WL 1842228 (N.D.Okla. June 13, 2005), and as trustee under the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) for natural resources within Oklahoma. The initial complaint stated nine causes of action. Two causes of action were under CERCLA, 42 U.S.C. § 9607. The first CERCLA claim sought recovery of costs (such as the costs of monitoring and evaluating water quality and biota in the IRW) incurred by the State in responding to Tyson's disposal practices, as well as a declaration that Tyson is responsible for all future response costs that the State would incur. In the second CERCLA claim the State acting as CERCLA trustee for `natural resources' in, belonging to, managed by, held in trust by, appertaining to or otherwise controlled by the Statesought damages for injury to and loss of natural resources, including the cost of restoring or replacing the injured resources, the value of lost services resulting from the injury to the resources, and the reasonable cost of assessing injury to the resources. Id. at 21. The State's third and fourth claims were based on state and federal nuisance law. They alleged that Tyson's disposal practices unreasonably inva[ded,] interfere[d] with and impair[ed] the State's and the public's beneficial use of the IRW, and sought damages (including punitive damages) and an injunction requiring Tyson to cease its disposal methods and remediate the IRW. Id. at 24. The fifth claim sought damages and injunctive relief for trespass on the State's property interests in the IRW. The State's sixth and seventh claims sought civil penalties and injunctive relief for violations of the Oklahoma Environmental Quality Code, see Okla. Stat. tit. 27A, §§ 2-6-105, 2-3-504; the Oklahoma Agricultural Code, see Okla. Stat. tit. 2, §§ 2-16, 2-18.1; the Oklahoma Registered Poultry Feeding Operations Act, see Okla. Stat. tit. 2, §§ 10-9.7, 10-9.11; and certain provisions of the Oklahoma Administrative Code, see Okla. Admin. Code § 35:17-5-5. The State's eighth claim was for unjust enrichment, seeking restitution and disgorgement of profits from the alleged improper waste disposal. A ninth claim was later voluntarily dismissed with prejudice. [1] The complaint did not mention the Nation. But the Nation was aware of the litigation from the outset. In March 2005, when alerted to the State's intention to file suit, Chad Smith, Principal Chief of the Nation, wrote the following in a letter to Oklahoma's Attorney General: I've had the opportunity to meet with a number of poultry growers in Delaware County, a quarter of whom are Cherokee. They are concerned that the proposed lawsuit would, in effect, put them out of business. I advised them that I would contact your office and offer our assistance and services in any way that might be helpful to facilitate discussions to reconcile the poultry litter problem affecting water quality in Northeastern Oklahoma. Aplt.App., Vol. 4 at 688. This letter reflected the Nation's obvious interest in the subject matter of the lawsuit. Much of the IRW is within the boundaries of the Cherokee Nation and, as clearly emerged later in the lawsuit, the Nation claims that various federal laws and treaties have given it ownership and control over lands, waters, and natural resources of the IRW since before Oklahoma statehood. Yet despite these claims regarding the IRW, nothing in the record indicates that before 2009 the Nation ever expressed to the State (much less reached an agreement with the State) that it should share in the State's recovery of costs or damages in its lawsuit. The Nation was, however, engaged early on with both the State and Tyson. In late 2005, after the filing of the initial complaint, representatives of the Nation met with representatives of both Tyson and the State. The Nation discussed its interests in the IRW, but asked Tyson not to pursue a course of action that would put the validity of the Cherokee Nation's claims to parts of the IRW before the court. Id. at 647. The litigation had sufficiently matured by November 15, 2007, that the district court issued a scheduling order: Discovery was to be completed by March 2, 2009, and trial was to be held the following September (the specific date of September 21, 2009, being set in a later order on April 24, 2009). Also, a day before the scheduling order the State sought a preliminary injunction enjoining Tyson from (1) applying poultry waste to any land within the IRW and (2) allowing the application of poultry waste generated at its respective poultry feeding operations and/or the respective poultry feeding operations under contract with it to any land within the IRW. Aplee. Supp.App. at 130. The district court eventually denied the request for a preliminary injunction on September 29, 2008, and we affirmed. See Att'y Gen. of Okla. v. Tyson Foods, Inc., 565 F.3d 769 (10th Cir.2009).