Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Against Wholestone Farms and City of Sioux Falls

A lawsuit has been dismissed by a Minnehaha County, S.D., judge between Wholestone Farms, the city of Sioux Falls and a group that opposed the company’s plans to build a $500-million pork processing plant in northeastern Sioux Falls, the Argus Leader reports.

Judge Sandra Hoglund Hanson dismissed the case on Tuesday, without prejudice or costs any party, ending Smart Growth Sioux Falls’ efforts to argue the city should not have given permits to Wholestone Farms once a proposed slaughterhouse ban made it on the Nov. 8 ballot, the article said.

Voters rejected the proposed ban by a 52% margin, giving the nod to Wholestone’s project.

In October, Hanson agreed the city was wrong in continuing to permit Wholestone’s “custom slaughterhouse” once the ballot measure was set, the Argus Leader reports. Still, all the necessary permits had been provided so Smart Growth Sioux Falls’ request for preliminary injunction was not applicable.

Hanson gave the group time to file for a writ of mandamus, an order from the court that could rescind some of the permits. However, she later agreed with a legal brief filed by Wholestone that cited a case in which the South Dakota Supreme Court had said that “mandamus is inapplicable to undo an act already done in violation of public or official duty.”

A mandatory injunction was the remaining possibility, the Argus Leader reports, but that would require more work, including a trial. That wasn’t something that would take place before the election, Hanson said.

According to Wholestone Farms, the $500-million facility will employ 1,000 workers and process up to three million hogs a year, per shift. Wholestone Farms is locally owned by over 200 farmers, 75 of which are within 50 miles of Sioux Falls, S.D.

Wholestone plans to build the processing plant near I-229 and Benson, Dakota News Now reports. The company closed on the land for 170-acre project last year. Construction is expected to take about 2.5 years.

More from Farm Journal’s PORK:

Sioux Falls Voters Say “No” to Slaughterhouse Ban