A major poultry processing plant is suing the City of Dawsonville, Georgia, and several officials in federal court, alleging local ordinance and constitutional violations and accusing them of assessing $1 million in illegal penalties for wastewater discharges that exceed pollution standards. 

Gold Creek Foods, an employer in Dawsonville since its first poultry-processing plant opened in 2004, filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia on April 12. The complaint challenges millions of dollars in fines ordered and threats to terminate the company’s water and sewage services, claiming it would irreparably harm its reputation and business.