Mount Prospect spent $700,000 on legal fight with malodorous animal feed producer

Mount Prospect spent more than $700,000 on its legal battle with an animal feed producer accused of releasing unpleasant odors from its plant for years.

Prestige Feed Products, which faced complaints throughout its more than six years of operation about its “burnt cheese” odors and jousted in the courts with Mount Prospect, Des Plaines and the state of Illinois, wrapped up its operations at 431 Lakeview Court late last month.

In response to inquiries, the village recently released the financial tally of the legal toll.

According to the information released this week by the village, it amounted to $707,919.97. The breakdown is $539,848.83 for in-house legal services and $168,071.14 for outside services.

The village used the services of its attorney, Klein, Thorpe and Jenkins, as well as the outside firm of Meltzer, Purtill & Stelle.

From the village’s perspective, the cost could have been higher — Mount Prospect and Des Plaines settled with Prestige in June. The settlement included Prestige’s commitment to shutter by the end of the year.

Legal costs were projected to exceed $400,000, with the potential for appeals, Village Manager Michael Cassady said.

“This allocation of village capital and resources is a reminder of the village’s steadfast commitment to enforcing our ordinances and regulations to protect the life, safety and welfare of community stakeholders,” he added. “The timing of the settlement allowed the village to avoid the most expensive components of litigation, including costs for dozens of depositions, experts and attorney’s fees for trial and preparation.

Des Plaines resident Mary Beth Stillmaker, a neighbor who led the resistance to Prestige, said the legal costs would have been unnecessary if the village had done its due diligence on the front end.

“The only people who made money from this are the lawyers, as usual,” she said. “They never should have been allowed to operate in there at all.”

Prestige still faces lawsuits from the neighbors and the Illinois attorney general’s office.