High Court decision on kiwifruit claim expected

Results of the Kiwifruit legal claim over the Psa outbreak are due tomorrow. Photo / File

The High Court's decision on a claim by kiwifruit growers and post-harvest company Seeka Kiwifruit against the Ministry for Primary Industries over the outbreak of the Psa is due to be made public on Friday.

The claim involved a group of 212 kiwifruit growers and NZX-listed post-harvest Seeka, who alleged that the then Government agency Biosecurity NZ was negligent in allowing the Psa virus to be introduced into New Zealand.

The outbreak, which cost the industry an estimated $885 million, hit New Zealand's most productive growing areas on the North Island's east coast between 2010 and 2013.

The growers, in a statement of claim was about "official accountability and just redress for the destruction of so many kiwifruit growers' livelihoods".

The claim seeks damages from the Attorney-General, representing the Ministry for Primary Industries, which absorbed Biosecurity NZ.

The litigation is being supported by litigation funder, LPF Litigation Funding, a New Zealand-owned company chaired by former Court of Appeal and Supreme Court Judge Bill Wilson QC.

The plaintiffs alleged MPI failed to follow its own regulations under the Biosecurity Act and this failure caused the PSA incursion in 2009/2010.

Specifically, they said MPI failed to follow its own regulations by not properly considering whether kiwifruit pollen could carry PSA and failing to undertake the required risk assessment when it received an application to import pollen.

They said MPI negligently gave biosecurity clearance for the entire shipment of banned plant material which was infected with PSA to enter the country and be delivered to Kiwi Pollen's premises in Te Puke. This shipment was the source of the PSA incursion that devastated the kiwifruit industry in New Zealand, the claimants said.

The duty of care aspect arose because the Kiwifruit Claim say that MPI owed a duty of care to the kiwifruit industry when performing its border security functions under the Biosecurity Act, they said.

The Ministry for Primary Industries did not accept the allegations.

In a statement last year, MPI said it did not "let" Psa into the country by allowing pollen imports to New Zealand. "Various studies are inconclusive as to exactly how the bacterium entered New Zealand," it said then.

The ministry also claimed statutory immunity from civil proceedings under the Biosecurity Act. -- Staff Reporter