Documents filed in the Ontario Court of Appeal outline the defences that Burnbrae Farms Ltd. and L.H. Gray and Son Ltd. and key employees have filed in response to lawsuits by Svante Lind and his companies, such as Sweda Farms Ltd.
Gray denies that he bribed Johannes Klei to poison Best Choice Egg's relationships with farmers and customers. He says that he refused to do business with Klei until he had left the employ of Best Choice Eggs and then he engaged him only as a broker paid on a commission basis, not as an employee.
Gray says he never got a customer list from Burnbrae which obtained the information under a confidentiality agreement while Burnbrae was negotiating to buy Best Choice Eggs. Gray also says Lind was fully aware of when Gray joined Burnbrae to make it a joint negotiation to buy Best Choice Eggs.
The deal never closed. Burnbrae's lawyers note that for two years, Lind didn't ask for a return of the confidential information.
Burnbrae says in its statement of defence that Lind has "a reputation in the egg business of being unreasonable, cantakerous, unpredictable and hard to deal with." and says "they are litigious and have had numerous disputes with other parties . . . in the egg business."
Burnbrae says the lawsuits are an "abuse of the courts" because "the allegations are groundless" and motivated by a desire to hurt Burnbrae's business.
Lind's lawsuits seek $30 million each from Burnbrae and L.H. Gray and Son Ltd.
None of the allegations nor the defences have been proven in court.
