Sweda Farms Ltd. has sued lawyer Donald Good and his associates and companies for $30 million, claiming negligence in the lawsuit Sweda filed against Burnbrae Farms Ltd., L.H. Gray and Sons Ltd. and the Egg Farmers of Ontario marketing board.
Burnbrae has persuaded the courts to allow it out of the lawsuit.
Sweda learned that Good and his associates failed to conduct examinations for discovery against Burnbrae and failed to file a court request that Burnbrae provide its documents that pertained to the case.
In February, 2014, Justice David Corbett ruled that Good, acting for Sweda, failed miserably. He wrote that:
(a) no single element of any cause of action was made out by the evidence placed before the court;
(b) the materials and evidence were not organized and analysed to make it clear what evidence Sweda had in respect of each of the allegations;
(c) the pursuit of production from Burnbrae was less than diligent;
(d) no evidence was filed regarding what documentary disclosure had been requested from Burnbrae and refused;
(e) Sweda's claims were supported by speculation, arguments presented as evidence, unparticularized assertions, and vague references to isolated pieces of evidence;
(f) no evidence was put before the court that Sweda had suffered losses or damages or that its damages were caused by Burnbrae's conduct; and
(g) Sweda failed to put its "best foot forward" and demonstrate evidence on which it could succeed at trial.
The original lawsuit was against Burtnbrae. Gray and the marketing board were added after the marketing board accused Sweda of cheating farmers by failing to pay for all the Grade A eggs they delivered.
It based that claim on the provincial averages for Grade A eggs, but Sweda countered that Burnbrae, Gray and the egg board conspired to inflate the percentage of Grade A eggs they processed.
Since Gray and Burnbrae accounted for about 90 per cent of the eggs graded in Ontario, their grading formed the provincial average.
Subsequent Access-to-Information requests have substantiated that five per cent or more of the eggs handled by Burnbrae and Gray failed to meet the Grade A standards they claim and that this situation persisted before and after Sweda’s lawsuit.
The lawsuit has yet to reach court.
Burnbrae, Gray and the egg board deny any wrongdoing.
Luke Van Aert, an organic egg producer, sued Sweda and lawyers acting for Sweda agreed to pay $164,560.93.
Sweda claims it was never informed that the lawsuit was scheduled to be heard in a court in London, did not know about the lawyers’ agreement to pay Van Aert the money and that Good recommended that Van Aert be added to the Burnbrae-Gray-egg board lawsuit, but failed to pursue it.
Sweda’s lawsuit against Van Aert focuses on two other lawyers, in a joint practice with Good – Robert Morrow and Lise Lemieux.
The lawsuit seeks $30 million which is the same amount cited in the lawsuit against Burnbrae and Gray and the egg board.
There is a treasure trove of e-mails related to the lawsuit, illustrating business links between Burnbrae and Gray, including sharing information when Burnbrae was negotiating the purchase of Sweda’s Best Choice Eggs business. The e-mails are being held in custody by a court-appointed lawyer in Kitchener-Waterloo.