Neighbors of a Mount Prospect animal feed producer have scored a preliminary win in their litigation against the company.
Cook County Judge Clare Quish ruled Thursday that the neighbors’ experts can tour the Prestige Feed Products facility at 431 Lakeview Court while it is operating.
Quish also ruled the neighbors’ attorneys can take depositions of two witnesses who previously conducted testing and odor analysis at the site.
Prestige had refused entry into the facility and the depositions, the plaintiffs’ attorneys said.
Neighbors of the factory filed a class-action suit against Prestige this year, alleging they’ve suffered damages as a result of the “burnt cheese” smell emanating from the factory for years.
In court Thursday, Prestige attorney Michael Gerkin argued that “the specific operation isn’t germane” to the neighbors’ claims, since the backbone of their case consists of prior complaints. Further information about the operation can be gained through photographs and videos obtained during daytime hours when the plant isn’t operating, he added.
Plaintiffs’ attorney Laura Sheets countered, “What’s going on in that facility is literally the basis of the allegations here.”
The experts would merely observe and not interfere with the operation, she added.
Sheets expressed concern that time is of the essence, since the operation is winding down.
“We want to get in there and see what’s been going on while these people are experiencing this,” she said.
Quish set a deadline of July 24.
The judge also rejected defense arguments that the subpoenas for the two witnesses were served too close to the discovery deadline of May 14. They were served April 14 for May 12 depositions.
A status hearing for the case is scheduled for Sept. 24.
Prestige earlier this month settled a separate lawsuit filed by the village of Mount Prospect and city of Des Plaines. Under the agreement, the company will leave its facility in the Kensington Business Center by the end of the year.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
