KENTON, Ohio — The Third District Court of Appeals of Ohio has tossed out a $5.2 million jury verdict awarded against two Ohio mega-egg farms, ruling the contract dispute over chicken manure should not have gone to trial.
H&C Ag Services LLC (d/b/a LandTech), a service company collecting egg farm chicken manure, had filed a 10-count lawsuit in 2006 against Trillium Farms and Ohio Fresh Eggs LLC, accusing the companies of violating a 10-year contract when it was unexpectedly canceled. Three years remained on the contract when it was terminated.
"This case never should have gone to trial," Appeals Court Judge Vernon L. Preston wrote in his opinion.
LandTech was contracted by Ohio Fresh Eggs to buy chicken manure from the state’s two largest egg farms, remove it and field-apply the manure on its customers’ farms until 2011. LandTech said losing the contract cost the company several million dollars in profit over its remaining term.
Prior to trial last year, nine of the counts in the case had been dismissed, leaving only the charge of "breach of contract." After a three-day trial last October, the jury awarded LandTech $2.585 million from each defendant, totaling more than $5.1 million. The egg farms appealed the decision three months later.
The contract called for LandTech to remove, haul and sell manure collected on Trillium’s egg-laying facilities operations in Hardin County.
The agreement included that LandTech would record the amount of manure removed and bill the farm’s clients for it.
Trillium Farms is the successor to Ohio Egg Farms.
Preston found nothing in the contract obligating the egg farms to sell all of the manure exclusively to LandTech or that LandTech agreed it would purchase all the manure it intended to broker exclusively from the egg farms.
In a 29-page decision on Sept. 14, after finding 14 trial error decisions by the Hardin County trial judge, Preston ordered the case back to the lower court for further proceedings. No date has been set for a new court hearing.
Attempts by telephone and email to contact LandTech attorney Terrance G. Stolly for comment for this article were not successful.
LandTech is a small 10-year-old company from Kenton, Ohio, and is owned by Harry Landsberg and Craig Eibling, both from Hardin County.
On average, 100 hens normally produce from 20-34 pounds daily of chicken manure, and one record showed 12 million Trillium hens produced 135,000 tons. The price for a ton of chicken manure varies from state to state.
In the Midwest, data show prices vary from as low as $56 per ton by truck to $80 or more. One broker reported estimates of $385 for a truckload of 26 tons of commercial chicken fertilizer.
