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Big news in Sawyer County cranberry suit.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to hear a nuisance lawsuit filed against a Sawyer County cranberry farm.

That's big news for those supporting Wisconsin farmers' right to legal farm practices.

Here's a press release from the Wisconsin Farm Bureau.

Have a good weekend, everybody!

The Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation was extremely pleased to learn that the Wisconsin Supreme Court has refused to review a nuisance lawsuit filed against a Sawyer County cranberry grower by his out-of-state neighbors.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court officially denied the plaintiffs’ petition for review of the nuisance lawsuit they first filed in 2004 with the support of former Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager. The plaintiffs had hoped the Supreme Court would hear the case after the Court of Appeals in February unanimously upheld an earlier circuit court’s ruling in favor of William Zawistowski.

The case will now be sent back to Sawyer County Circuit Court so that the trial judge can award Zawistowski and his insurance company, Rural Mutual Insurance Company, their attorneys' fees and court costs incurred in defending against the plaintiffs' unsuccessful nuisance as a legal right afforded to Wisconsin farmers under the Right to Farm Law.

Due to the lawsuit’s potential ramifications to the state’s Right to Farm Law, as well as the threat of future nuisance lawsuits against lawful farming practices, the Farm Bureau and a coalition of agriculture groups also filed a brief urging the high court not to hear the case.

“This case has historic implications to all of Wisconsin’s diverse $51 billion agriculture industry, and I am very proud that the Farm Bureau, other ag organizations and Rural Mutual Insurance Company have stood behind the Zawistowski cranberry operation throughout this case,” said WFBF President Bill Bruins. “We have never wavered from our commitment to protecting all Wisconsin farmers from nuisance lawsuits and preserving their right to farm.”