Legal losers keep appeal option open

By PHILIPPA STEVENSON agriculture editor

Meat New Zealand and the Meat Industry Association may take a case to the Privy Council that has twice gone against them in New Zealand courts, costing up to $10 million.

Association executive director Brian Lynch said the export meat company representative body lodged a notice of appeal to the Privy Council on Monday against an Appeal Court decision favouring former Taumarunui meat company Paramount Export and its export arm, Ronnick Commodities.

Farmer-funded Meat NZ said it had applied for leave to lodge a late notice of appeal over the seven-year-old case after its board did not meet to decide in time for yesterday's deadline. A spokesman said the board would decide how to proceed at today's monthly meeting.

Lynch said the association's appeal notice was buying time because it had not had the opportunity to consult its legal advisers since the Appeal Court decision last month.

The move would give it a couple of months to decide whether to take the matter to the highest appellate court.

In its September 10 judgment, the Appeal Court dismissed the appeal of both bodies over last year's High Court decision awarding about $6 million to Paramount and Ronnick for lost value and damages plus interest and legal costs.

The meat companies went into receivership and liquidation after being denied quota for the valuable European Union sheepmeat market in 1996 by a joint committee of Meat NZ and the association.

Ron Russell, Paramount and Ronnick's sole shareholder, had urged the two organisations not to drag out the case any more, and add further to costs which were growing daily at an alarming rate.

Yesterday, he said it was irresponsible for the case to be carried on when it would mean farmers paying about $1 million more on top of an estimated $10 million it had cost so far.

Russell said he had been advised that the Privy Council could not consider an appeal when there had been two concurrent findings of fact, as in this case. But if an appeal went ahead, he would cross-appeal and was confident of success.