Egg case sealed

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

by BETTER FARMING STAFF

On March 1, an Ontario Superior Court judge in London sealed all documents connected to a Strathroy egg marketing company’s legal action against a former employee. Media organizations can no longer report on details contained in documents filed with the court.

With media and members of the public barred from the court, Justice Wolfram Tausendfreund granted a motion submitted by lawyer Allison Webster of Harrison Pensa on behalf of her client, L.H. Gray & Son Limited. The motion called for a court order to treat “all documents filed with the Court” as “confidential, sealed and not form part of the public record.” The order also requires the defendant, Norman Bourdeau of London, not to share company information with others.

Update: The order prohibits Bourdeau from providing electronic or documentary information obtained from L. H. Gray to "federal or provincial regulatory agencies or law enforcement agencies." It also bans Bourdeau from "communicating or attempting to communicate, directly or indirectly, verbally or in writing" any of his allegations against L. H. Gray with anyone the company does business with as well as members of the public. End of update.

Webster declined to comment, noting the matter was before the courts.

The company is suing former employee Norman Bourdeau for breach of fiduciary duty, confidentiality, good faith obligations, defamation and intentional interference in economic relations. It’s claiming $15 million in damages.

Bourdeau, who worked as an information technology specialist for the company for several years, is countersuing L. H. Gray, owner William Gray, Scott Brookshaw, the company’s vice president of processing and John Leitch, Gray’s chief financial officer for constructive and wrongful dismissal and wrongful termination of his contractor consulting agreement. He’s claiming $25 million in damages.

Bourdeau declined comment, referring a Better Farming reporter to his lawyer, Rod Refcio who could not be reached for comment. L.H. Gray is the second largest egg producer, grader and marketer in Ontario.

Retail customers who buy table eggs include Loblaw, No Frills, Canadian Superstore, Sobeys, Walmart, Longos, Costco and Metro. L. H. Gray also sells to a number of wholesalers and to breaking plants for further processing. It supplies cooked eggs to Tim Hortons.

The sealing order remains in effect until a May 30 court appearance to deal further with the matter. BF