FREEPORT, Mich. (WOOD) — A Freeport farmer sought more than $60,000 in damages after she says fireworks set off nearby traumatized her cows and all but destroyed her farm operation — bug now she’s the one on the hook for her opponents’ costs.
Judy Smith has owned Pinecrest Farms on County Line Road in the village of Freeport for about 30 years. She successfully raised cows for dairy and beef as part of her business, she said.
Smith said everything changed in September 2010 when the village allowed a special fireworks show near her property. She said the explosions caused her cows to stampede.
“Total chaos,” she told 24 Hour News 8, describing the night of the fireworks. “Total chaos.”
Smith claimed the damage to her cows was permanent. She said some were injured in the stampede and others’ milk production decreased.
“It destroyed the cows and that’s my sole income — their mental state, you know,” Smith explained. “I’ve worked for 30 years trying to build something and it was destroyed in one night.”
The ordeal prompted Smith to hire an attorney and file a lawsuit against Freeport and the company that set off the fireworks, among other entities. She said the fireworks invaded her property when they were set off in a way that put them over her cattle.
The case dragged on for years. A Barry County judge dismissed it after delays on the part of Smith and her attorney and problems in how the case was filed. Attorneys for Smith took the case to the Michigan Court of Appeals, where judges upheld the Barry County judge’s ruling.
And the appeals judges made things worse for Smith. They ruled she should pay money to the parties she sued to cover their legal expenses. That amount totaled more than $30,000.
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