LABELLE, Fla. (AP) - Instead of ending a high-profile lawsuit over two Hendry County monkey farms, a judge has ruled the case will go to trial.
The News-Press reports (http://newspr.es/1ZmMcLV) that a jury will decide whether county officials broke the law by approving both facilities, which house thousands of macaques for biomedical research.
The case hinges on whether county staffers broke Florida's Sunshine Law by permitting two huge monkey farms without telling the public or giving it a voice in the matter.
In 2014, the nonprofit Animal Legal Defense Fund sued Hendry County on behalf of area homeowners for violating the Sunshine Law by green-lighting the farms without any public hearings.
___
Information from: The (Fort Myers, Fla.) News-Press, http://www.news-press.com
(Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
