SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. -- An Exeter landowner is suing his neighbors, accusing them of dumping chicken waste in retaliation for him holding weddings on his 32-acre property.

Gerald P. and Deborah Zarrella this week sued neighbors, James and Diane Lynch, in Washington County Superior Court. They allege that they Lynches had dumped 40 to 50 yards of raw chicken excrement in close proximity to their property and that the noxious fumes caused the landowners and the wedding guests to become ill and generated an abundance of horseflies.

The suits says Deborah Zarrella watched as the Lynches had the chicken waste deposited on their land mid-afternoon Friday as preparations were under way for the wedding of Julie Charren the following day. Terry and Marc Charren, of East Greenwich, had rented the Gerald's Farms as the wedding venue for their daughter, who has been diagnosed with cancer.

The Zarrellas called the state police and the state Department of Environmental Management. Thomas Silvia, a DEM officer, asked James Lynch to remove the waste before the wedding, informing of Charren's battle with cancer, the suit says. The Lynches were cited by the DEM as a result.

The Zarrellas accuse the Lynches of intentionally disrupting the wedding, despite a ruling by Superior Court Judge Luis Matos that it could proceed.

Zarrella has been locked in a legal battle with the Town of Exeter over his marketing of his property as a premier events venue.

Those efforts have now been blocked twice in state Superior Court. The town first sued Zarrella in 2011, alleging he was violating zoning laws. The parties entered a consent judgment that permanently barred Zarrella from renting out or using 270 Narrow Lane for commercial events until “such time as and to the extent that the terms of this permanent injunction are superseded by statute.”

Zarrella has asserted that that’s what happened in 2014, when state lawmakers broadened the Right to Farm Act to allow “enterprise” on farmland. The changes were meant to keep farmers in business and opened the door for landowners to allow retail sales, tours, the petting of animals, hay rides, crop mazes, festivals, and other special events that contribute to the preservation of agriculture.

Zarrella argues the law now allows weddings and other commercial events at Gerald’s Farms, which is designated as farmland. The changes in the law, he said, invalidated the consent judgment.

In July, Matos ruled in the town's favor that 2014 amendments to the state’s Right to Farm Act do not clear the way for commercial events — such as weddings, fundraisers and concerts — in the town’s rural four-acre district. Zarrella has appealed to the state Supreme Court, which on Sept. 8 refused to put Matos's ruling on hold pending the appeal.

The Lynches could not be reached immediately for comment.

-- This report was updated at 2:27 p.m.