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.