The Indiana Supreme Court will decide which county court will hear a lawsuit filed by a northwestern Indiana youth camp seeking to stop a farmer from raising hogs on nearby land. The court heard oral arguments Monday in the lawsuit, which challenges a zoning decision allowing a proposed large-scale hog operation that would abut the Carroll County and White County line. White County commissioners want YMCA Camp Tecumseh’s suit to be heard in White County. The camp’s attorneys want the case heard in Carroll County, where the camp is located about 20 miles north of Lafayette.Indiana’s appeals court ruled in June that White County is the preferred venue, reversing a lower court’s ruling. Camp officials appealed that ruling to the state’s high court.
The high court is charged with ruling not on the issue of if the farm can expand but rather on which county has jurisdiction in the case. Chief Justice Loretta Rush questioned Mark Crandley, an attorney for the White County board of commissioners, about what actual burden would be posed if the justices were to decide that the case should be heard in Carroll County. “What’s the harm in driving 15, 20 miles?” she asked. After Monday’s hour-long hearing, Rush said the justices would consider the arguments and briefs filed, but did not indicate when the court might rule.