(Radio Iowa) — The Iowa Supreme Court, this past week, said two people who dropped lawsuits against the owners of animal confinement operations have to pay the company’s legal costs.

Michael Merrill of Batavia and Karen Jo Frescoln of Libertyville were part of a group of 70 people who filed nuisance lawsuits against Valley View Swine which runs two pork confinements for J-B-S Live Pork in Wapello County. The first lawsuit was dismissed because they had not exhausted their mediation option.

Merril and Frescoln filed a second lawsuit, but then voluntarily dismissed it. The district court ordered them each to pay around 92-hundred dollars in costs to Valley View. They argued they should not have to pay any costs because there was no judgment from the court.

The Iowa Supreme Court upheld the lower court ruling that the dismissals showed this was a “losing cause of action” and the claims were frivolous.