A Canadian court ruled this week that records pertaining to the bacterial ring rot case in Alberta will be withheld by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency pending a court decision.
CFIA, named in a suit with an Alberta seed potato grower over the sale into Washington state of seed potatoes containing BRR after they had been inspected by CFIA, will hold the inspection records under the appeal of six other Alberta growers under subsection 44(2) of the Access to Information Act.
The Canadian court told the six growers they may participate as a party in the review process before the Court. Attorneys for the six claim that the records should be protected under public immunity statute.
Ochoa Ag Unlimited in Washington state filed a $10 million suit against the grower who sold him seed in 2003, claiming the seed contained BRR.
Attorneys for Ochoa Farms expect the case to be tried in Canada and they will have to hire a Canadian law firm to handle the suit.