• A federal judge has rejected Perdue Farms' lawsuits challenging federal Labor Department whistleblower proceedings involving two Robeson County poultry farmers.
• US District Judge Louise Flanagan's decision Monday arrived more than a year after a judge denied Perdue's request for an injunction.
• Fairmont-area farmers Craig Watts and Rudy Howell claimed that Perdue retaliated against them after they publicized concerns about the company's rules for raising poultry.

A federal judge has dismissed lawsuits Perdue Farms filed against the US Labor Department to block whistleblower proceedings involving two Robeson County poultry farmers.

US District Judge Louise Flanagan issued a ruling Monday siding with farmers Craig Watts and Rudy Howell, along with the Labor Department and its Office of Administrative Law Judges.

A January 2025 order had rejected Perdue’s requests for injunctions. As the plaintiff in the federal lawsuit, the company sought to block ALJ proceedings linked to Watts’ and Howell’s whistleblower arguments.

“Plaintiff argues that the DOL’s adjudicatory structure violates its Seventh Amendment rights, the Supreme Court’s decision in Jarkesy, and Article III of the Constitution,” Flanagan wrote Monday, citing a 2024 US Supreme Court precedent. “Defendants counter that these claims fail as a matter of law under the analytical framework established in Jarkesy to assess these issues. The court agrees with defendants.”

Watts and Howell both contracted with Perdue...

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