Jurors on Tuesday awarded $550,000 to Boyceland Dairy after a two-week trial in which the Boyce family accused the city of Augusta of poisoning its crops and cattle with sewage sludge.
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The award - a fraction of the $12.5 million sought by the Burke County family - fell far short of what the plaintiffs say is needed to help their dairy recover from its problems, however.
"We won the case but lost the farm," said a tearful Carolyn Boyce, who hugged her husband, Bill, and other family members after the verdict was delivered shortly before noon.
The Boyces contended in a breach-of-contract lawsuit that the city's sewage sludge, applied to their land as free fertilizer from 1986 to 1998, contained heavy metals that contaminated their pastures.
Those metals, they claimed, weakened immune systems in cattle and contributed to what some of their witnesses described as "unprecedented" mortality with no apparent cause.
"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."
But the size of the award, he conceded, 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 city's defense team, which rested its case Friday after calling only two of its 10 witnesses, contended that the Boyces' problems were linked to poor management and common cow ailments such as Johne's disease.
Jim Ellison, who led the city's defense, said the relatively small award indicated that the jurors did not hold the city responsible for the cattle deaths.
"It seemed to me if the jury thought we were responsible for cattle deaths, it would be a lot higher," Mr. Ellison said, adding that no decision has been made on whether to appeal.
"From the public's perspective, the most important issue is, there was no testimony or evidence that we were responsible for the cow deaths," Mr. Ellison said. "They said, 'We had cows die, so our land must be contaminated,' and that doesn't pass muster under Georgia law."
The Boyces' legal team, however, views the finding for the plaintiffs as a victory, regardless of the amount of damages.
"They feel vindicated, but not wholly compensated," said Jeb Murray, a member of the plaintiffs' legal team.
Jurors heard two weeks of testimony - mostly from the plaintiffs' witnesses - in the Richmond County Superior Court civil trial, then deliberated for eight hours Monday without reaching a verdict. Tuesday's deliberations took only an hour.
Despite the jury award, the city has a request pending before Judge Carlisle Overstreet to dismiss the case over claims the statute of limitations for such a lawsuit has expired.
The city faces a similar lawsuit from another farm that received Augusta's sewage sludge. R.A. McElmurray & Sons, of Hephzibah, filed a lawsuit in February 2001, a week after the Boyceland Dairy lawsuit was filed.
No trial date has been scheduled in that case.
Reach Robert Pavey at (706) 868-1222, ext. 119, or rpavey@augustachronicle.com.
