Perdue Farms has filed a complaint against the Department of Labor and Craig Watts of Fairmont, NC. Watts has engaged in a series of actions bordering on barratry in his private capacity, to deprecate the image of Perdue Farms and to question the integrity of marketing claims relating to “humanely raised”.
The Department of Labor previously rejected Watts’ claims relating to compensation since he was not an employee but was an independent contractor raising broilers for Perdue Farms Inc.
Perdue Farms, forced to defend a number of actions filed by Watts, is now seeking declaratory relief to restrain the Department of Labor from pursuing administrative proceedings. Perdue claims actions by the Department of Labor are unconstitutional since it has deprived the company of the right to a jury trial.