The Kiwifruit Claim will seek damages of over NZ$330m (US$221m), as it proceeds with High Court action against New Zealand’s Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI).
The group, made up of New Zealand kiwifruit growers and post-harvest operators, is suing the Crown for what it alleges is negligence in allowing the Psa vine-killing disease into the country.
The High Court’s imposed deadline for joining the class action expired last Friday (9 October). According to a press release issued by the Kiwifruit Claim last Thursday (8 October), the class action is being support by around 45 per cent of growers representing the gold kiwifuit industry and 15 per cent of the green industry at the time Psa struck. Matthew Hooton, a spokesman for the Kiwifruit Claim, said this translated to an estimated NZ$334m (US$ 224m) in losses.
“According to the government's own Sapere report, losses from Psa in just the first 15 years after the initial crisis have been estimated to be a minimum of NZ$740m (US$497m) and as much as NZ$885m (US$ 594m),' Hooton said. 'Those losses are more than thirty times the NZ$25m (US$17m) the government boasts on the MPI website that it paid to compensate growers for the outbreak.”
The Kiwifruit Claim alleges Biosecurity New Zealand, a government body that has since been incorporated into MPI, was negligent when it allowed a specific shipment of anthers from a Psa-ravaged part of China to enter New Zealand.
'For its part, the government denies that direct connection, denies that its decision to let in the anthers from an infected part of China was negligent and denies it owes a duty of care to growers anyway,” Hooton explained. 'We think the government has a moral and political duty to all New Zealanders to take care when protecting our country's vital industries and unique native flora and fauna from foreign pests and diseases. We also allege officials have a parallel legal duty and should be accountable through the courts when they carry out their critical biosecurity role.'
Meanwhile, the High Court has reissued a minute concerning the content of press releases promoting the Kiwifruit Claim.
This minute upholds a complaint by Crown Law. It reiterates that any promotion of the claim must make clear that allegations the MPI had been negligent was, at this stage, a matter of opinion as asserted by the Kiwifruit Claim, rather than a matter of established fact.
