Class Action Press Release

[rkaiser]

Damn there are some good people ready to help in this country.

Let's get another one going in Manitoba Kato. Cameron would be happy to parachute from the plane over Winnipeg I am sure.

How about Regina Mr. and Mrs. Jensen???

Thanks Gloria


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 19, 2010

A BSE Class Action Information Session, organized under the direction of BSE class action lawyer Cameron Pallett and beef producers from the province of Alberta will take place Wednesday, March 31st, at 12 noon in the Stockmens Pavilion at Westerner Park, Red Deer, AB.

In April 2005 class action claims were filed in the courts in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Quebec on behalf of all farmers of cattle resident in Canada on May 20, 2003. The claims allege that negligence on the part of the Federal Government caused the BSE crisis in Canada, and the corresponding loss of income to Canadian cattle producers.

The actions in Alberta and Saskatchewan have since been joined to the Ontario action. Lawyers behind the two remaining class action suits will go to court in April to ask for a final merger of the Quebec action with the Ontario action. The trial pitting about 135,000 Canadian cattle producers against Ottawa over losses due to BSE will take place in Toronto.

The Information Session is to provide industry stake holders in Alberta with up-to-date information on the BSE Class Action and what producers can do to help in securing a payout in a reasonable time frame.

"The support from cattle producers all across Canada has been tremendous. Now that we are heading to trial, we feel it is necessary to hold information sessions across Canada to let producers know where they stand," explained Cameron Pallett. "Response from Alberta beef producers has been strong and we expect over 1,500 to rally with us at the March 31st session in Red Deer."

More information on the BSE Class Action can be found at www.bseclassaction.ca.

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Contact: Cameron Pallett (905) 822-9111

[kato]

Excellent! Is this going to media outside Alberta?

[kato]

My question has been answered already. This is in the Manitoba Co-operator online edition.

BSE class actions seek merger into one
Dave Bedard

Lawyers behind the two remaining class-action suits pitting about 135,000 Canadian cattle producers against Ottawa over losses due to BSE will go to court in April to ask for one last merger.

Cameron Pallett, a Toronto lawyer for Ontario producer Bill Sauer, said Wednesday that counsel for cattleman Donald Berneche of St-Gabriel de Brandon, Que. will appear in Quebec Superior Court before Justice Richard Wagner in Montreal on April 19.

There they'll ask that Berneche's class action suit be folded into Sauer's.

Berneche's and Sauer's suits were two of four co-ordinated actions filed against the federal government, feed maker Ridley Inc. and unnamed federal bureaucrats in April 2005. Suits filed by cattlemen in Alberta and Saskatchewan were stayed in 2008 and folded into Sauer's suit in Ontario.

Ridley settled out of court in January last year, making no admission of liability or wrongdoing but paying $6 million that has since been rolled over to fund the remaining two actions.

The Quebec suit, with Berneche as the representative plaintiff for the "class" of all cattle producers in that province, was certified as a class action in 2007. The Ontario suit, with Niagara Falls-area producer Sauer as its representative plaintiff and all other cattle producers in Canada in its "class," was certified last year.

Both suits claim negligence within the government led directly to the costly BSE-related closure of the U.S. border and other foreign ports to Canadian cattle and beef.

The lawsuits' allegations against the government and individual bureaucrats have not yet been proven in court.

Sauer's suit, as filed in 2005, had claimed $100,000 for every member of the "class" in "general damages... for pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment of life" as well as "aggravated damages" of $100,000 per class member.

Pallett said Wednesday that the Quebec suit had no specific issues that make it different from his client's suit in Ontario, making it simple to fold into the Ontario action.

Information sessions

No trial date has yet been set for the Ontario suit, and Pallett in the meantime is urging that the government seek an independently-mediated settlement.

Pallett noted Wednesday that he and lawyers for the government got a court order in July last year that sees all action against Ridley "dismissed without cause."

The order blocks Ottawa from trying to apportion any possible fault to Ridley, which regardless of Ridley's settlement could have substantially cut the potential size of a possible federal payout.

(Ridley, when it settled last year, emphasized it "will continue to contest any allegation it was responsible for the plaintiffs' damages.")

Pallett said in March last year that cattle producers need help now and don't want to drag their case for years through trials and appeals, he said. At that time he said he didn't see a trial underway for four years at best, due to "procedural song-and-dance" that accompanies such cases.

A settlement in this suit would offer real economic impact across the country for all the talk of economic stimulus, he added.

While the legal process lumbers toward a possible trial, Pallett has been appearing at information meetings to update cattle producers on the suits' status.

His next such appearance is scheduled for March 31 at Westerner Park in Red Deer, Alta., at the Stockmens Pavilion. That session is tentatively scheduled to start at noon.

[PureCountry]

Randy, if I send this out in an e-mail can I include your phone number with Cam's at the bottome in case people have questions? Who's going to coordinate buses and such?

[rkaiser]

You can put my name on it if you like bud --- This thing is very quickly getting away from one one or two or ten people can handle. All we really need to do is spread the word and get people in the building.

As far as buses; I'm thinkin that we touch base with auction markets and especially Neilsen brothers ---- I'm not even kidding. I will be talking with people in that organisation this week.

[TheBadger]

I can attend.

Is there anything planned for afterward?

[rkaiser]

Geez here I thought everyone left agriville.... Lots of good ideas on here but when a date is set ??????

Yes Sherri --- afterwards it looks like the group proposing to purchase the Balzac plant would like to invite anyone interested to come down and have a look.

Hope I didn't say that too early Sawbones....

Awe shit ---- I am not going to get into any fear mode here. We need to be open and say what needs to be said for once.

Ya we're gonna have a good day. Did a radio spot today and the advertising campaign is in gear. The main focus now for anyone interested whatsoever is pass the word and fill the damn building.

Leave the sob stories at home and come out and stand up for our selves for a couple of hours.

Oh yes --- every phone call except for maybe one has been extremele positive and supportive and we have been reaching a ton of people so far.

And thanks Kato for your letter writing and somewhat good news from the fed ag ministers office about looking at mediation. Yer the best.

[TheBadger]

Randy,
send me an email at sheri@thebadger.ca with your
number - or whoever else can chat.
I can give the cause some press. And I am not sure
what is happening. Pls shoot me the where, why, who,
what and when and I can call you tomorrow.

[kato]

This is all good news!

While we're handing out compliments, here, on behalf of all us downtrodden and slapped around cattle folks, I'd like to give a big thanks to Randy for all your hard work.

The world needs people who are not afraid to stir the pot once in a while, and I'd like to nominate Randy for the position of head stirrer. LOL

I'm looking forward to seeing this in the news.... all over the news.