Justice finds whistle blower not in contempt

Thursday, July 28, 2011

by BETTER FARMING STAFF

An Ontario Superior Court Justice has tossed out a motion to hold egg industry whistleblower Norman Bourdeau in contempt of a court order.

Bourdeau’s lawyer, Rod Refcio, confirmed Friday that Justice Roland Haines had dismissed the motion that was brought forward by the whistleblower’s former employer, L.H. Gray and Son Limited.

Refcio noted that a decision not to award costs “can be interpreted a million different ways.” But it’s usually “a sign that the judge feels that neither party has earned entitlement to receive some compensation or legal fees.”

Refcio declined to comment further on the decision, noting he had not received instructions from his client.

L.H. Gray is suing Bourdeau, an information technology specialist, for breach of fiduciary duty, confidentiality, good faith obligations, defamation and intentional interference in economic relations. The company is claiming $15 million in damages. Bourdeau, in turn, is suing his former employer for wrongfully terminating his contract and is claiming $25 million in damages. All claims have yet to be proven in court.

Heard in a London court on Wednesday, the motion asked that Bourdeau be held in contempt of court for failing to deliver documents to L.H. Gray, Ontario’s second-largest egg marketer, before a court-imposed deadline of Mar. 4, 2011. The documents were delivered via email a week later.

Bourdeau, who has challenged the practices of Ontario’s egg industry and his former employer and asked the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission to investigate, claims in an affidavit that pneumonia prevented him from providing L.H. Gray with a list of about 170 contacts to whom he had leaked proprietary and confidential information by the early March deadline.

On Wednesday, L.H. Gray’s lawyer Allison Webster argued that Bourdeau’s failure to deliver information on time was part of a pattern of conduct. She also noted that the explanation came months after the fact in an affidavit delivered days before the contempt motion was heard, and lacked an apology to court.

Webster had estimated her firm’s costs to be nearly $11,000. Refcio estimated his costs at $2,000-$3,000.

Webster could not be reached for comment. BF