Green, et al. v. Orkin LLC, Civil District Court, Orleans Parish. Verdict 6/11/26.
In June of 2020, our clients purchased a raised shotgun property in New Orleans that had a double lot. First time homebuyers, they had a shared dream of turning that lot into a no-spray organically grown farm. When they closed on their home, they ate pizza on the ground of their side porch, looking at the empty lot, envisioning the intertwining of their home and business – looking out into their future. The next day they planted a willow tree as a symbol of their hope for their new life together. They got married on their land a few months later.
Both of our clients spent their lives in the sustainable agriculture field. One client started Fat River Farms, a d/b/a, right out of college. They met farming. They worked together to curate the soil, the land, the plants, and the ecosystem in this home farm, spending thousands of hours over the course of almost two years time. The fruits of their labor began to show. Their lot was now populated with vegetables, fruit trees, and beautiful wild flowers.
They were selling their crops at the farmer’s market. They ate off their land. Fat River Farms had started to reengage in the event business, where it had crafted a unique space as a farmer-florist, providing organically grown bouquets, wedding flowers, and tablescapes.
On April 16, 2022, Orkin entered their yard under the mistaken belief that they were across the streets and sprayed pesticides all over their property – essentially totaling their farm. The spraying of these pesticides rendered the property inorganic for a period of three years absent an expensive complete rehabilitation of the soil and ecosystem – money our clients did not have.
For over four years, Orkin admitted a mistake, but – in their own words – “did not buy” the destruction this mistake caused. They thought our clients were exaggerating their damages and, put simply, did not find much value in the extreme mental anguish they had gone through.
Our clients had the courage to tell this story to a jury in Orleans Parish, and after four days, the jury awarded our clients over $330,000, $175,000 of which was for mental anguish damages for the stress of losing their farm. With interest and costs, this jury verdict resulted in over $456,000.
This case was tried by Megan Kiefer.
