Posted: 3/21/06
Hoscheit dairy lawsuit settlement could exceed $1 million
By David Heiller
Argus News Staff
A Houston County jury awarded the Tom and Joe Hoscheit dairy farm $941,390 on March 17 as a result of losses to their operation.
The eight-member jury ruled unanimously that Nelson Dairy Consultants, Inc of Decorah, Iowa, and its employee, Harry Root, were negligent in providing nutritional services and advice.
Tom and Joe Hoscheit, who are brothers, claimed in their suit that the nutrition company improperly balanced the ration recipe for their herdís feed and added ingredients to it that caused calving problems and acidosis.
They filed the suit in the spring of 2004. It went to trial on March 6 of this year.
The Hoscheits deferred comment on the case to their attorney, Will Mahler of Rochester. Mahler said the Nelson Dairy Consultantsí computer-based program that was used by its employee to formulate ration recipes was fundamentally flawed.
ěNot only did their [Hoscheitís] average milk per cow go down, but they lost so many cows to dying,î Mahler said on March 19.
The Hoscheit herd size went from 200 to 110 as a result of the nutrition problems, Mahler said. ěSo youíve got fewer cows producing milk, so thatís why the damages were so high,î he said.
The final settlement will be closer to $1.1 million with prejudgment interest and costs for expert witnesses and depositions, Mahler added.
The jury found that the Hoscheit damages were $1.3 million, but ruled that Nelson Dairy Consultants was 82 percent negligent and the Hoscheits 18 percent negligent.
The negligent nutrition advice occurred from October 2000 to March of 2003, according to the lawsuit. The Hoscheits switched to a new nutritionist at that time. ěSince that time [of the change], milk production has sharply increased,î Mahler said. That fact provided strong circumstantial evidence that the problem was with the nutritional service, he said.
Testimony from dairy experts that the nutrition program was flawed was also important in the case, Mahler said.
He said he was happy and relieved with the verdict. ěItís a hard process and you never know until the end,î Mahler said. ěBut we felt quite confident throughout the case that we would ultimately prevail.î
Nelson Dairy Consultants did not return a phone call from The Argus for this story. Its attorney, Peter Sandberg, from the Rochester firm of Dunlop and Seeger, said on March 20 that the company hadnít decided whether to appeal the case.
ěWe were disappointed. We thought the answer should be yes but the jury answered no,î Sandberg said. The jury deliberation lasted about six hours, he added.
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