WILLEMSTAD – Poultry company J & M Egg’s Farm Moderno has suffered another legal setback in its long-running dispute with residents of Sunset Heights. The Joint Court of Justice rejected the company’s request on August 6 to temporarily halt the collection of possible penalty payments related to the disposal of chicken manure.
Whether Moderno actually owes the penalties remains the subject of separate ongoing legal proceedings.
The latest ruling is part of a years-long conflict involving complaints from Sunset Heights residents about foul odors and flies allegedly caused by chicken manure originating from the poultry operation.
In February, the Court again prohibited Moderno from dumping chicken manure or other organic waste on its own property or at locations that have not been officially designated by the government for that purpose. Violations of the prohibition can result in penalty payments. That judgment has since become final.
Stichting Sunset Heights and a nearby resident maintain that Moderno subsequently violated the prohibition and therefore incurred penalties. Moderno disputes those allegations and returned to court in an attempt to prevent the penalties from being collected.
The Court of First Instance rejected Moderno’s request on June 26. The company appealed four days later.
At the same time, Moderno asked the Joint Court to temporarily suspend the effect of the February judgment until a decision had been reached in the appeal. Such a suspension would have prevented the disputed penalties from being collected in the meantime.
The Court has now rejected that request as well.
According to the ruling, Moderno used the wrong legal procedure. The pending appeal already concerns the question of whether the penalties can be collected.
The Court also pointed out that the June 26 judgment did not impose any new obligation on Moderno. The lower court merely refused to stop enforcement of the existing penalty provisions. As a result, there was effectively nothing in that decision that could be suspended.
Furthermore, the original February judgment containing the prohibition has become final and can no longer be challenged by Moderno through ordinary legal proceedings.
The company was ordered to pay ANG 2,000 in legal costs.
The dispute between Moderno and residents of Sunset Heights dates back to at least 2021, when residents complained about persistent odors and large numbers of flies associated with chicken manure.
Courts have since repeatedly addressed how the poultry company may handle and dispose of its manure.
In 2022, Moderno was already subjected to prohibitions backed by penalty payments. In 2024, residents sought payment of penalties they claimed the company had incurred, triggering another legal dispute over enforcement.
A new explicit prohibition against dumping manure at unauthorized locations followed in February of this year.
The current proceedings therefore center on a different question: whether Moderno violated that prohibition after the February ruling and, consequently, whether penalties became payable.
The August 6 decision does not provide details about what Moderno allegedly did after February, how much money Stichting Sunset Heights and the resident are seeking in penalties, or what evidence has been presented to support those claims.
Those issues are expected to be addressed in the continuing proceedings over whether the penalties can actually be collected.