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Litigation - Recent Cases.
Jury: Consumers Power Co. Liable for Stray Voltage Damage to Dairy Herd--Utility will Appeal
Last modified on:
Tuesday, July 30, 2002 12:29:48
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Michigan utility Consumers Power Co. was held liable for losses sustained by two dairy farmers who claimed that stray voltage from the utility's power system adversely impacted milk production by their dairy herds. In their May 10th (1995) decision, the Barry County jury in the case determined that farmers Kenneth Case and Larry Carpenter sustained damages of $4.3 million and $892,250, respectively. However, the jury also determined that Case and Carpenter were responsible for 55 percent and 50 percent of the damages, respectively, leaving Consumers liable for $1.95 million and $446,125 in the combined cases. The plaintiffs' attorney, Martin Hable of Saginaw, Michigan, filed the civil suits in 1993 in reaction to a surge in milk production noted by the farmers after Consumers worked on nearby power lines to eliminate stray voltage in the late 1980s. The utility claims that poor nutrition, not stray voltage, is the cause of the earlier poor milk production and they plan to appeal the award.
From the Kalamazoo Gazette and United Press reports, May 11, 1995.
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