public health

April 1, 2021 In Cases

Sierra Club v. Walnutdale

Everybody has the right to clean water. Yet for the neighbors of industrial agriculture operations like Walnutdale Farms in Michigan, this right is unrealized. That is why the Public Justice Food Project represented the Sierra Club in an enforcement action alongside the Environmental Protection Agency…

December 9, 2020 In News

Law360: Pa. Meatpackers Urge Court Action Over Virus Safety Plans

A group of workers told a Pennsylvania federal judge on Tuesday that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s failure to enforce COVID-19 protocols at a Scranton-area meat processing plant underscored the importance of court intervention to ensure worker safety at the facility.

December 8, 2020 In Cases

McKiver v. Murphy-Brown

Hundreds of mostly Black and brown community members in Eastern North Carolina won a series of mass action lawsuits against Smithfield for the public nuisance caused by factory hog farms. It was a historic victory. Smithfield’s farms produce copious amounts of animal waste, burdening neighbors…

December 3, 2020 In News

Law360: OSHA Won’t Fine Meatpacker Accused Of COVID-19 Violations

The U.S. Department of Labor’s workplace safety arm will not cite a meat processing company investigated for alleged COVID-19 violations, despite a lawsuit by workers urging a Pennsylvania federal court to force the agency to make the company better protect against the disease.

November 30, 2020 In Cases

Maid-Rite (Justice at Work v. Sec. of Labor Eugene Scalia)

Public Justice, Towards Justice, Nichols Kaster, and Justice at Work filed a lawsuit in the Middle District of Pennsylvania against Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia for failing to compel a slaughterhouse to protect its workers from contracting COVID-19. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)…