DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A northeast Iowa couple has won an appeal of their lawsuit against a neighboring cattle farm and can seek damages for repeated manure spills onto their property.

The Iowa Court of Appeals said Wednesday that Lee and Rita Dvorak may pursue damages against Oak Grove Cattle, a feed lot near Riceville that once held as many as 1,000 cows but closed in 2016.

The court’s decision reverses a judge’s dismissal of the lawsuit in August 2018. The judge concluded the Dvoraks waited too long to file but the appeals court says the manure was a continuing problem and the statute of limitations didn’t apply.

The couple dealt with manure flowing onto their property from 2009 to 2016 and spent thousands of dollars to empty and refill a contaminated farm pond and clean up their property.