August 27, 2026
A Michigan produce processor fired back at a tribe's request that it stop releasing water into local wetlands, telling a federal judge Wednesday that even though it may have dumped untreated wastewater in the past, it's no longer in violation and that any restrictions would hurt its business.
November 13, 2025
A Michigan federal judge has ruled that a fruit-processing company illegally discharged millions of gallons of untreated wastewater into wetlands that feed Michigan's Grand Traverse Bay, granting an early win to a Native American tribe and two local environmental nonprofit groups.
November 05, 2025
A Michigan federal judge on Tuesday said a fruit and vegetable company can't dodge a Native American tribe and two environmental groups' claims it unlawfully contaminated nearby wetlands with polluted wastewater discharges.
April 29, 2024
A Michigan federal judge has ruled a fruit and vegetable company can't escape claims it unlawfully contaminated nearby wetlands with polluted wastewater discharges, saying the company's defense essentially ignores the primary theory of liability put forward by a Native American tribe and two environmental groups.
August 28, 2023
A Native American tribe and two environmental groups say a Michigan fruit-processing company must face their Clean Water Act claims for its excessive wastewater discharges that are overwhelming a series of fields and fouling adjacent wetlands that form a creek running to Elk Lake, even in light of a recent Supreme Court ruling that narrowed the law's scope.
July 24, 2023
Burnette Foods Inc. is asking a Michigan federal court to throw out claims from a Native American tribe and two environmental groups alleging the company illegally discharged wastewater into wetlands, saying they have failed to show the company has violated federal law.
June 08, 2023
A Native American tribe accuses a Michigan fruit-processing company of polluting a local waterway in a suit filed in Michigan federal court Wednesday, saying unacceptable levels of E. coli bacteria and arsenic have been found downstream from the plant.