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A federal jury has awarded a Georgia couple $135.5 million for damage to their property at the hands of a Tennessee-based solar company and its contractor.
The arbitral award against Silicon Ranch Corp. and its contractor IEA Inc. was announced Friday by James E. Butler, attorney for plaintiffs Shaun and Amie Harris, who live near Lumpkin, Ga., south of Columbus, WRBL-TV reported.
According to the lawsuit, Silicon Ranch Corp. developed more than 160 solar cell plants nationwide, many of which were built by the IEA. At “Lumpkin Solar,” the IEA has cleared and mass-graded about 1,000 acres of forest, farmland and land near the Harris couple that was previously used for recreational hunting and fishing — without installing adequate erosion and sediment control measures, Butler said in release a message.
“The result was what you’d expect — when it rained, pollution spilled downhill and downstream onto neighbors’ property, inundating wetlands with silt and sediment and turning a 21-hectare trophy-fishing lake into a mud hole,” Butler said.
Silicon Ranch chairman Matt Kisber at the opening of a similar solar farm in 2019. (Paula Merritt/The Meridian Star via AP)
The companies “created, operated and maintained a nuisance … that resulted in sediment contaminating plaintiffs’ wetlands, streams and lakes. The court also notes that this nuisance has continued unabated for approximately two years,” US District Judge Clay D. Land said in the order.
The jury returned a verdict of $10.5 million in damages.
In the penalty phase, where the jury is considering an amount that would punish the companies for their actions, the panel found that the SRC, IEA and an IEA subsidiary – IEA Constructors, LLC – acted with specific intent to harm. The jury awarded SRC $25 million in punitive damages, IEA Inc. $50 million and IEA Constructors, LLC $50 million, the press release said.
Westwood Professional Services Inc., the engineering firm that designed the erosion and sediment control plan for the SRC and IEA, has been released from all liability, the law firm said.
“The SRC/IEA litigation and litigation strategy was to blame and deny everyone else responsibility,” said plaintiffs’ attorney Dan Philyaw. “They blamed Westwood, they blamed Shaun and Amie, they blamed too much rain, and they blamed ‘erodible soils.'”
“Stinginess isn’t neighborly,” Butler summarized the case, “and it’s a terrible trial and litigation strategy.”
Nashville, Tennessee-based Silicon Ranch said in an email to The Associated Press that it would appeal the verdicts.
“We have relied on our contractor to perform this scope of work in accordance with applicable law and consistent with industry best management practices, as determined by the appropriate regulatory bodies in the state of Georgia,” the company said.
“As the long-term owner of this facility, Silicon Ranch remains committed to the continued success of Stewart County and the surrounding region,” the company continued. “While we sincerely regret the inadvertent damage to our neighbor’s property, Silicon Ranch does not believe the verdict in this trial is supported by the facts in this case.”
Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, transcribed or redistributed.
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