The Iowa Supreme Court is set to decide if the families of four people who worked at the Tyson Foods meatpacking plant in Waterloo and died of COVID-19 in 2020 can move forward with their wrongful death lawsuits against company leaders.

The families of Sedika Buljic, Reberiano Garcia Leno, Jose Ayala and Isidro Fernandez allege they died of complications related to COVID-19 in the spring of 2020 because Tyson executives and supervisors failed to prevent the spread of the virus, lied to workers about the outbreak and ordered sick employees to continue working.

The Black Hawk County District Court dismissed their cases against Tyson last year. A lawyer for the plaintiffs asked the Iowa Supreme Court during oral arguments Thursday to reverse that lower court ruling and let the cases proceed.

Attorney David Yoshimura, representing some of the Waterloo Tyson plant supervisors named in the lawsuits, said these are “straightforward workplace injury claims” that belong in the workers’ compensation system, not in the courts.

“…Which is why the district court dismissed them. Nevertheless, the plaintiff here has engaged in some creative pleading of their own and tried to, through some gamesmanship, keep these claims in the courts,” he said.

But plaintiffs’ attorney G. Bryan Ulmer III said Tyson leaders’ actions satisfy an exception to that law.

He said Tyson executives and supervisors’ fraudulent misrepresentations and gross negligence caused the four employees to die of COVID-19. He said Tyson leaders told employees the virus wasn’t spreading at the plant and told workers with COVID symptoms to keep going to work.

“All the while, supervisors were placing bets on how many positive COVID-19 cases would result from the outbreak,” Ulmer said. “The end result was the largest workplace outbreak of COVID-19 in the entire country.”

The COVID-19 outbreak at the Tyson facility in Waterloo

The Tyson plant in Waterloo was in the spotlight in April of 2020, when local health officials and some state lawmakers were urging the company to temporarily shut down the pork plant to help stop the spread of the virus.

The workers’ families allege that by the beginning of April, Tyson supervisors knew that COVID-19 “was rampantly spreading” at the Waterloo plant. Some were part of a betting pool “to wager how many workers would test positive for COVID-19.” Tyson later fired seven managers who were involved.

The plaintiffs said that Tyson executives and supervisors “forced” sick workers to work at the Waterloo plant unless they got a formal positive COVID test result (which could take several days at that time), refused to provide proper masks and allowed employees to work without masks.

“A box of rags and frayed fabric was provided at the Waterloo facility for workers to use as ‘optional’ face coverings,” the plaintiffs alleged in a court filing.

Tyson had already closed its plant in Columbus Junction because of a COVID-19 outbreak, and, according to the lawsuits, was already taking virus precautions at its plants in China for months.

The Waterloo plant was closed on April 23, 2020, after the virus had been spreading there for weeks.

Local health officials reported in early May 2020 that more than 1,000 employees of the Tyson pork plant had tested positive for COVID-19.

The lawsuits

The families of the four Waterloo workers who died filed two separate lawsuits in the summer of 2020. They were combined for some legal proceedings.

At one point, the cases were sent to the federal court system.

Tyson argued that it was acting under the direction of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to prevent a food shortage during the pandemic and that federal courts should hear these cases instead of state courts. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to review the case and sent it back to the state court system.

The Iowa Supreme Court will likely decide by the end of June 2025 whether the cases can move forward.

Tyson Fresh Meats settled lawsuits earlier this year with the estates of three people who worked at its pork plant in Storm Lake and died of COVID-19.

Students in the Decorah school district will have an interesting 2025-26 athletic year.

After the Northeast Iowa Conference dissolves at the conclusion of the current academic and athletic year, Decorah will be left without a home. They will operate as an independent, meaning they will need to schedule games for all sports on their own, according to a report by KCRG.

“I don’t assume that it’s going to be easy to operate as an independent because our schedule is blank and most schools that are in a conference have most of their blanks filled in,” Decorah School Board President Cindy Goodner said. “But we’re starting with nothing so it’s going to be a challenge for next year.”

An appeal to the Department of Education was denied for Decorah to join the Upper Iowa Conference. Iowa law says that every district is entitled to belong to a conference, but the DOE stated the enrollment size of Decorah was more than double the average of those in the Upper Iowa Conference.

Decorah has 435 students in grades 9-12, while the Upper Iowa Conference averages 170 per school in those same grade levels.

The WaMaC was also considered, but the nearest school there, Independence, is 68 miles away. And conference matchups would include travel to schools almost 300 miles away round-trip.

Most schools put their schedules together years in advance, leaving Decorah without many options for 2025-26. The school board stated they are working hard to resolve the matter starting in 2026-27. 

The Decorah football team will not face these same issues, as those scheduled are set by a district and through the Iowa High School Athletic Association. The Vikings reached the state quarterfinals this past fall and went undefeated in the regular season.

Waukon, New Hampton and Crestwood have been allowed to join the Upper Iowa Conference. The Northeast Iowa Conference voted to remove Waverly-Shell Rock two years ago, which left it with just five teams.

The Northeast Iowa Conference is the oldest conference in Iowa, holding events for more than 100 years. Once the baseball and softball seasons come to a conclusion in summer 2025, though, it will no longer exist.

This news come on the heels of several high school varsity basketball programs announcing they will not compete at that level in 2024-25.

Six Iowa dog breeders or kennels were cited for federal regulatory violations during the third quarter of 2024.

Breeders in only two other states – Ohio and Indiana – racked up more violations than Iowa’s breeders during the quarter that began on July 1 and ended on Sept. 30.

The violations are compiled and analyzed by Bailing Out Benji, an Iowa-based, animal-welfare organization that collects and republishes data on violators throughout the nation,

Bailing Out Benji’s most recent report shows that during the third quarter of 2024, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service cited six Iowa breeders or kennels for a total of 19 violations.

During that same period, Ohio kennels or breeders were cited for a total of 40 violations, the most of any state. Indiana ranked second with 22 violations, and Iowa and Michigan were tied for third place with 19 violations each.

The Iowa violators were:

— Rick and Sara Sandbulte of Furever Paws in Sioux Center: On Aug. 22, 2024, this kennel was cited for seven non-critical violations during a routine inspection.  The violations pertained to the attending veterinarian and inadequate veterinary care, the time and method of identifying dogs, the housing facilities, and the primary enclosures.

The inspector observed that a poodle named Sassy had a coat that was excessively matted, though she could not be caught for closer inspection because she can bite. The dog was matted under her neck, front rib cage, and front legs, and the hair was “heavily twisted and ropey,” the inspector reported.

In addition, a pug and labrador had excessively long toenails, some of which were curling back underneath the feet. “Long toenails can be painful and cause discomfort when a dog is trying to walk,” the inspector noted, adding that the nails can cause injury if they become caught in the kennel’s plastic flooring. The pug also had growths on both front feet that required veterinary attention.

Also, the enclosures in the “big dog kennel” had solid plastic fronts that were not secured and not in good repair. When the dogs leaned on the fronts, the plastic would push outward, creating a gap that could allow the seven dogs to escape or be injured while attempting to escape.

The inspector also observed that the back wall for seven enclosures had a buildup of brown grime on their surfaces, indicating the required daily spot-cleaning was not taking place, adding to the risk of disease.  Inside one enclosure, a metal rod with a sharp point was protruding up through an opening in the floor and was at eye level for the one adult boxer in the enclosure.

In addition, the inspector reported seeing a Boston Terrier puppy housed in an enclosure in which the puppy’s feet were passing through the openings of “the plastic chicken flooring” as the puppy attempted to walk inside the enclosure. “The feet of dogs passing through openings in the flooring can cause injury,” the inspector noted.

When asked about the inspectors’ findings, Sara Sandbulte said, “Honestly, excuse me for being blunt, but it was a bull—- inspection.” She said the USDA inspector had never previously cited the business for any violations but on the day in question he was accompanied by a female state inspector.

“So he was just showing off in front of her, in front of the lady from the state,” Sandbulte said. “I will tell you that when my husband was going through the inspection with him, within the first 10 minutes my husband texted me and said, ‘He’s showing off. He’s trying to look good in front of the state.’ … It was just a bunch of bull—- stuff.”

The Sandbultes had 308 dogs on hand at the time of the inspection. Bailing Out Benji reports that it has records of Furever Paws selling to pet stores in at least four states.

— Steve Kruse of Stonehenge Kennels in West Point: On Aug. 23, 2024, this kennel – one of the largest in Iowa — was cited for one violation pertaining to cleaning, sanitization, housekeeping, and pest control.

The inspector reported that the food receptacles in the kennel were not being cleaned and sanitized as often as needed. “At least four dogs’ metal food bowls in four enclosures had smeared, dried feces or a thick buildup of dark brown organic material on the inside of the bowls,” the inspector reported. At least one of the bowls contaminated with feces also contained fresh dog food, the inspector added.

At the time of the inspection, Kruse had 493 adult dogs on hand.

Kruse’s Stonehenge Kennels has a long history of violations. Federal records collected by Bailing Out Benji indicate Kruse routes his pregnant dogs to another Iowa breeder, Brian Lichirie, who whelps them and then sells them to pet stores — a process of “puppy laundering” that obscures the true source of dogs sold by retailers.

— Alan and Terisa Steiber of Rockytopp Kennel in Lansing: This kennel is home to 83 dogs and puppies and on Aug. 2, 2024, was cited for five non-critical violations pertaining to records, cleaning, sanitization, housekeeping, pest control, and veterinary care.

The USDA inspector noted that the walls of the dog enclosures and the animals’ feeding receptacles were not being cleaned often enough to prevent an accumulation of brown organic material, hair and thick, grey organic material.

In addition, the kennel’s attending veterinarian had not completed an annual site visit since March 2023, and the mandatory, head-to-tail annual examination of adult dogs had not been performed since March 2023. Also, 25 of the kennel’s 72 adult dogs were overdue for their rabies vaccinations.

Bailing Out Benji reports that it has USDA records indicating Rockytopp Kennel sells to pet stores in the state of Washington.

— Alex De Jager of DJ Kennels in Rock Valley: This kennel, home to 21 dogs and puppies, was cited for inadequate housing facilities during an Aug. 16, 2024, inspection. The inspector reported that two metal self-feeders used to feed two adult dogs had metal surfaces that were rusting and corroding, as did four dog enclosures outside the main building.

— Heath Meyers of Century Farm Puppies in Grundy Center: During a July 25, 2024, inspection, a USDA inspector noted there were 17 dogs over four months old that had yet to be added to the facility’s official record of dogs on hand. The kennel was also cited for inadequate veterinary care, with the inspector noting that Meyers had no current records of the dates on which a distemper vaccine, parvovirus vaccine and deworming medication were administered to a female bichon named Randi. The lack of medical records “makes it difficult to determine if the animals are receiving vaccinations and deworming,” the inspector noted. Both violations were cited as repeat offenses. At the time, Century Farms had 191 dogs and puppies on hand.

The inspector returned on Sept. 26 and noted that 20 of the animals’ primary enclosures had handles with exposed and excessive flaking rust, creating a risk of disease.  Also, there was a group of dogs housed together that included two puppies, each under four months old, that created a risk of injury due to incompatibility.

During an April 23, 2024, inspection by the USDA, Meyers was cited for one direct violation pertaining to inadequate veterinary care, and four noncritical violations pertaining to watering, cleaning, sanitization, housekeeping, pest control, veterinary care and other issues.

At that time, the inspector noted that while Meyers had a total of 159 dogs and puppies on hand, the maximum number of animals he was allowed to have on hand was 150, raising questions as to whether Meyers was “capable of providing care for that number of animals.”

Nevertheless, the number of dogs at the kennel continued to grow, at least through July when the USDA inspector returned and reported Meyers had 191 dogs on hand. At the time of his September inspection, Meyers had 153 dogs, according to the USDA.

The staff at Century Farm Puppies did not immediately respond to calls, text messages and emails from the Iowa Capital Dispatch.

— William Davenport of Afton: On July 3, 2024, Afton was cited for one violation related to recordkeeping. Afton was also cited for violations in the first quarter of 2024, and in 2023 and 2022.