As Factory Farms Spread, So Do Toxic Tort Cases

Large factory farms increasingly occupy rural landscapes once dotted with small family farms, and their concentrated waste has produced a wave of toxic tort litigation.

Known as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, the facilities confine and raise large populations of livestock. Environmentalists say these operations supply food to such industry giants as Tyson Foods Inc. and JBS USA.

Common allegations in CAFO cases—stench from waste lagoons, sinking property values, tainted groundwater and swarms of flies—have propelled citizen suits asserting nuisance and other torts in Arizona, California, Illinois, Iowa, North Carolina, Wisconsin and other farming states.

As lawmakers from these big food-producing ...