Okla. expert hired own kids, friends to work on pollution study in poultry lawsuit

Geologist hired kids, friends for expert report

TULSA, Okla. — A geologist admitted Thursday that he hired his own three daughters and family friends to do legwork for a report that became the backbone of Oklahoma’s pollution lawsuit against the Arkansas poultry industry.

J. Berton Fisher, one of the state’s expert witnesses, testified he hired at least eight family members and friends, including the daughter of one of the attorneys handling the state’s 2005 lawsuit.

Thursday was the companies’ first chance to cross-examine Fisher, who had been on the stand since last week.

Poultry company attorneys tried to show Fisher had a cozy relationship with Oklahoma’s attorneys and tailored his scientific findings to support their thesis that chicken waste was the main source of pollution in the Illinois River watershed.

Scott McDaniel, an attorney for Peterson Farms Inc., one of 11 companies being sued by the state, got Fisher to testify to putting family and friends on his payroll at $18 an hour, then billing Motley Rice, the South Carolina law firm representing the state on a contingency-fee basis, $35 an hour.

Fisher also admitted his company has billed at least $750,000 worth of work since the lawsuit was filed.

“There’s been a lot of money exchanged,” Fisher said Thursday. “Not all of it’s gone into my pocket.”

Attorneys representing Oklahoma have spent at least $25 million on the case so far. They will be reimbursed only if the state wins.

McDaniel claimed Fisher’s firm was largely supported by lawyers who hired him as an expert, and he had relationships with at least two of the attorneys who eventually sued the poultry industry.

McDaniel introduced into evidence an August 2004 memo addressed to Fisher and several others that talked about the need to show a link between the disposal of poultry waste and pollution in the river valley.

He also questioned Fisher’s methods, getting the scientist to admit several water samples were collected by his staff before he wrote a memo instructing them on how to do it properly.

In earlier testimony, Fisher testified about the rapid growth of the poultry industry in the watershed, which spans parts of Oklahoma and Arkansas. He also testified about how the watershed’s hills, thin soils and rocky, porous terrain allowed contaminants to seep into streams and groundwater.

For decades, farmers in northeastern Oklahoma have emptied litter from their chicken houses and spread the droppings on their fields as cheap fertilizer for other crops. Oklahoma’s lawsuit claims runoff from the fields polluted the river valley with harmful bacteria.

The other defendants named in the lawsuit are Tyson Foods Inc., Cargill Inc., Cal-Maine Foods, Inc., Tyson Poultry Inc., Tyson Chicken Inc., Cobb-Vantress Inc., Cargill Turkey Production L.L.C., George’s Inc., George’s Farms Inc., and Simmons Foods Inc.