Jurors concluded today that the city of Augusta's sewage sludge was responsible for cattle deaths and property damage at a Burke Conty dairy farm.
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But the victory for Boyceland Dairy and members of the Boyce family was bittersweet: jurors awarded the family only $550,000 - a mere fraction of the $12.5 million in damages sought by the plaintiffs.
"We won the case, but lost the farm," said a tearful Carolyn Boyce, who hugged her husband, Bill Boyce, and other family members after the verdict was delivered shortly before noon.
Jurors heard two weeks of testimony - mostly from the plaintiffs' witnesses - in the Superior Court civil trial, then deliberated eight hours Monday without reaching a verdict.
After words of encouragement by Judge Carlisle Overstreet, who warned that failure to decide the case would require a future retrial, the panel resumed their deliberations at 10 a.m.
An hour later, a note was delivered to the bailiff, who advised that a verdict had been reached.
"We've always known, all along, that we were right," Mr. Boyce said. "We didn't make this up. We know exactly what happened to the cows."
However, he added, the jury's finding for the plaintiffs in the amount of $550,000 was a disappointment.
"We appreciate the jury and all they've done," he said. "But the farm has been very much damaged. It will be hard to stay in business after all that's gone on."
The Boyces contended that the city's sewage sludge, applied to their land as free fertilizer in the 1980s and 1990s, contained heavy metals that eventually contaminated feed grown in their pastures.
Those metals, they contended, weakened immune systems in cattle from their dairy herd, contributing to what some witnesses described as "unprecedented" mortality with no apparent cause.
The city's defense team, which rested its case on Friday after calling only two of its 10 witnesses, contended the problems were linked to poor management by the Boyce family and common cow ailments, such as Johne's disease.
Jim Ellison, who led the city's defense in the case, did not say whether the city would appeal the verdict.
