Jury Awards $332,300 to New Orleans Organic Farm After Orkin Technician Sprayed Pesticide at the Wrong Address

In April 2022, an Orkin pest control technician arrived at the wrong address in New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward and, instead of treating the neighboring property he had been hired to serve, used a pesticide fogger to spray Suspend Polyzone across the crops, flowers, and chickens of Fat River Farm.

The farm is owned and operated by Marguerite Green and James Elliot Robinson, who had spent years building an ecologically managed growing operation that depended on organic certification to market its produce. The pesticide application wiped out beneficial insects including pollinators and predatory bugs, caused frogs and snakes to disappear from the property, and triggered the three-year loss of organic certification that Green and Robinson relied on for their sales.

Both owners also suffered physical effects from the exposure. Green and Robinson filed suit against Orkin LLC in Orleans Parish Civil District Court, represented by attorney Megan Kiefer of Kiefer and Kiefer.

At trial before Judge Ellen Hazeur, Orkin mounted an aggressive defense. The company hired expert witnesses to challenge the legitimacy of the farm's organic practices and argued that the owners had overstated their losses. Kiefer countered by presenting the documented harm to the ecosystem, the paper trail showing the lost certification, and the financial and personal toll the incident had taken on the plaintiffs.

The jury rejected Orkin's arguments and returned a verdict of $332,300 covering physical harm, mental suffering, medical costs, and economic losses to the farm. Orkin has indicated it intends to appeal. The verdict was entered in July 2026 by Judge Hazeur.