Craig v. County of Chatham
North Carolina Supreme Court
356 N.C. 40, 565 S.E.2d 172 (2002)
- Written by Tanya Munson, JD
Facts
In 1998, the Chatham County Board of Commissioners (the board) enacted the Chatham County Ordinance Regulating Swine Farms (the swine ordinance) and the Ordinance to Amend the Chatham County Zoning Ordinance to Provide for Regulation of Swine Farms (the zoning ordinance). The swine ordinance regulated swine farms raising 250 or more pigs. The zoning ordinance limited swine farms to areas of the county zoned either light industrial or heavy industrial and required swine farm owners to obtain a permit through compliance with the swine ordinance. The health department enacted the Chatham County Board of Health Swine Farm Operation Rules (the health board rules), which were almost identical to the swine ordinance but applied to more swine farms. Timothy Craig and the Chatham County Agribusiness Council (CCAC) (plaintiffs) filed a complaint against the County of Chatham (the county) (defendant), seeking a declaration that the swine ordinance, zoning ordinance, and health board rules were not legally valid. The trial court found in favor of the county and Craig, and the CCAC appealed. The court of appeals affirmed in part and reversed in part the ruling of the trial court, holding that the swine ordinance and the health board rules were preempted by state law, but the zoning ordinance was not. The county petitioned for discretionary review, arguing that the court of appeals erred in concluding that state law preempted the regulation of swine farms and thus prevented the county from adopting an ordinance and rules regulating swine farms.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Lake, C.J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 815,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.