Settlement Talks to be Held in Law Clinic-Poultry Pollution Case

Attorneys in a poultry pollution case filed by a University of Maryland environmental law clinic will try to settle the dispute during a conference in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.

The clinic represents plaintiffs suing Hudson Farm and Perdue Farms Inc., claiming they are polluting a nearby waterway.

Gov. Martin O’Malley has criticized the lawsuit. The governor wrote a letter to the dean of the university’s law school complaining about what he called the “ongoing injustice” of pursuing costly litigation against the Worcester County farm.

Farm groups say the suit could bankrupt Hudson Farm and set a harmful precedent for other family farms.

The settlement conference Wednesday before Chief Magistrate Paul W. Grimm in Baltimore federal court is closed to the public.

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