Court tosses out 'whistleblower's' claim in egg grader case

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

by BETTER FARMING STAFF

A court in London has thrown out an information technology specialist’s allegations of defamation, conspiracy “and other tortuous conduct” against his former employer, one of Canada’s largest egg graders.

In an April decision placed in public court files last week, Justice Christopher Bondy, Superior Court of Justice, also struck the employee’s claims against representatives of the Strathroy company, L.H. Gray & Son Limited.

The former employee and self-proclaimed whistleblower London resident Norman Bourdeau, is a key figure in a series of court cases and controversy over egg grading in the province.

Bourdeau made the allegations about L.H. Gray and its officers in a counterclaim after the company initiated a suit against him for breach of fiduciary duty, confidentiality, good faith obligations, defamation and intentional interference in economic relations.

Bourdeau’s claim that his former employer wrongfully dismissed him is still before the court.

All claims have yet to be proven in court.

Bourdeau describes the April decision as a minor setback. “A statement of claim will be filed with more detail of the allegations,” he says in a prepared statement.

At a hearing in early April, L. H. Gray’s lawyer, Allison Webster, argued that more detail is needed for Bourdeau’s counterclaim. The Justice agreed with Webster’s assertion.
Bourdeau is also required to pay $8,000 in court costs.

Meanwhile, at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Oshawa, two motions in connection with two other court cases involving L. H. Gray and Bourdeau will be heard on June 10.

Both cases were launched by Blackstock Ontario-based Sweda Farms Ltd., the province’s third-largest egg grader. The company contends that several players in Ontario’s egg industry undermined its business. The players included the provincial marketing board, L. H. Gray and Canada’s largest grader, Burnbrae Farms Limited, as well many individuals.

In court documents the egg board and those named deny the allegations. None of the claims made have been proven in a court of law.

One of the June 10 motions, brought forward by Sweda, is to consolidate a case in Oshawa and another case at a court in Toronto. The second motion is a contempt of court motion L. H. Gray filed against Bourdeau. The motion involves a previous court decision and information that Bourdeau supplied to Sweda. BF