Updated: Turners & Growers has postponed the court case against Zespri which was due to begin in the Auckland High Court this week.
The Turners & Growers legal team has been granted a postponement of Tuesday's High Court case against Zespri due to ‘unforeseen personal circumstances', says Turners & Growers media advisor Trish Sherson.
A teleconference will now be held to determine a new date for the trial to start.
A new start date is expected to be within the next couple of weeks, says Trish.
EARLIER ARTICLE:
A new Turners & Growers battle in its war with Zespri over control of the kiwifruit industry begins in the Auckland High Court Tuesday this week.
Turners & Growers claims Zespri is breaching the Commerce Act and the complaint is in three parts.
Zespri's three-year rolling exclusivity contracts with growers and the exclusivity arrangements with suppliers, have the purpose, and will have the effect of, restricting competition by Turners & Growers and other exporters for growers' fruit post-deregulation.
Turners & Growers say Zespri's service level agreements with suppliers for Australia in 2009, were intended to prevent suppliers selling class two fruit to Turners & Growers and other exporters to Australia in that season.
Zespri's policy not to agree to the export of fruit from third party cultivars unless the fruit has been through Zespri's testing process has the effect of giving Zespri control of cultivars as well as control of exports, say Turners & Growers.
The trial is set down for five weeks.
The action was filed in July 2009. An initial four-day hearing was held in July 2010 to determine the issues of:
Whether the kiwifruit export regulations purportedly giving Zespri a monopoly are unlawful; and if the high court has jurisdiction to determine whether Zespri has been acting in breach of regulations nine (non-discrimination) and 11 (non-diversification) of the Kiwifruit Export Regulations 1999.
Turners & Growers' appeal on those matters will be heard in the Court of Appeal on November 16-17.
2 comments
TURNERS AND GROWERS
Posted on 03-05-2011 11:58 | By krozzy
As a past member and sales rep for Turners in my time working for them there was 7 exporters and it didnt work then and i cannot see it working again Zespri is doing a fine job and should be left alone to do be the sole exporters of one of our main crops overseas.
a fair go
Posted on 03-05-2011 17:52 | By lee hoggard
zespri may well have done a good job of selling kiwifruit but it should not be allowed to effectivly stop others with new differnt varieties selling them overseas,this is a modern decent country after all not some third world dictatorship
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