Sweda Farms Ltd. has filed a 19-point appeal, trying to keep
its conspiracy lawsuit against Burnbrae Farms alive.
Sweda alleges that Joe Hudson and his Burnbrae Farms
business conspired with Bill Gray and his L.H. Gray and Sons Ltd., and Harry
Pelissero, general manager of the Egg Farmers of Ontario marketing board, to
drive Best Choice Eggs Ltd. out of the egg-grading business.
Svante Linde sold Best Choice last year and owns Sweda Farms
and Tilia Transport Ltd. which are involved in the lawsuit against Burnbrae
Farms Ltd., Burnbrae Holdings Inc. and Maple Lynn Foods Ltd.
The appeal says Justice David Corbett made errors in law
when he dismissed all of the claims Linde made against Hudson’s companies.
The controversy began more than five years ago when the egg
board alleged that Best Choice was cheating farmers and the egg board by
failing to grade enough eggs as Grade A.
The board is financed by a levy on Grade A eggs and farmers
get more money for Grade A eggs.
The board’s allegations were based on comparisons with the
provincial average for the percentage of eggs that achieve Grade A status. More
then 90 per cent of the province’s eggs are graded by Burnbrae and Gray.
Linde and Best Choice Eggs countered that their grading is
accurate and it’s Burnbrae and Gray that cheat on grades.
Gray and Burnbrae deny any wrongdoing.
Records taken by a whistleblower and obtained from random
sample audits by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency both indicate that Burnbrae and
Gray routinely put eggs that do not qualify for Grade A into Grade A
retail-ready cartons.
In an affidavit, Hudson testified that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has a tolerance of up to five per cent for cracks in Grade A cartons.
There are no CFIA documents indicating that there is any tolerance for below Grade A eggs that are marketed as Grade A.
Gray earlier made an unsuccessful bid similar to Burnbrae to
have many of the allegations against it dismissed. The judge in that case
refused all of Gray’s motions for dismissal.
