Justice Peter Lauwers has fined whistleblower Norman
Bourdeau $5,000 and has awarded lawyers for L.H. Gray and Son Ltd. costs of
$58,000.
The fine and award are, however, under appeal.
In fact, Bourdeau asked Lauwers to make his decision on the
fine and court costs so those decisions can be included in his appeal of
Lauwer’s finding earlier that Bourdeau was in contempt of court for failing to
turn over everything he had from Gray to a supervising solicitor in Kitchener.
The intent was to keep the files under court protection.
The information is from electronic files Bourdeau took from
Gray after he says owner Bill Gray ordered him to destroy the files.
Those files, according to news reports before court records
in London and Oshawa were also sealed, include more than 4,000 incriminating
e-mails between Gray and his staff and with officials at Burnbrae Farms Ltd.
and the Egg Farmers of Ontario marketing board.
Bourdeau also alleges the records indicate Gray cheated to
include cracks and dirty eggs as Grade A in packages shipped to retailers.
Gray denies any wrongdoing.
At the appeal on April 30, Broudeau is expected to argue
that the court order to turn over the files to the supervising solicitor was
intended to prevent Gray from destroying them, not to prevent him from making copies.
He will also argue that he was allowed to share information
for the purposes of law enforcement.
Lauwers said in assessing the $5,000 fine that he will
reduce it if Bourdeau comes to him in court to apologize.
He also indicated that a $5,000 fine is stiff for an
individual. His lawyer argued for $1,500.
Gray’s lawyers sought a fine of $7,000 to $10,000 and between two
weeks and two months in jail.
Lauwers said jail time is not appropriate.
This contempt-of-court issue is peripheral to a much larger
lawsuit filed by Sweda Farms Ltd. against Gray, Burnbrae and the egg board,
alleging they conspired to drive Sweda out of business.
The electronic records now under court protection are
crucial in this lawsuit, explaining why Gray’s lawyers are working so hard to
keep them secret and out of the court case and Sweda’s lawyers want many of the
records to be allowed as evidence.
