A plant nursery must pay substantial compensation to an organic vegetable grower after delivering unsatisfactory organic seedlings. Shortly after this, the grower had to cease operations and eventually went bankrupt.
In 2021, the court ordered a compensation of nearly 20 million euros for the German grower, against which the Dutch plant nursery successfully appealed. The Court of Appeal in The Hague overruled the 2021 decision on February 6, as revealed by the verdict published on February 14.
However, a total damage amount of over 2.1 million euros still stands. The court calculated hypothetical income damage up to and including 2016 following the delivery in 2007 of vegetable plants to the German grower of field vegetables.
Failure to meet organic standards
The plant nursery is accused of recklessness. Following market feedback in 2007, serious doubts quickly arose about the organic quality of the plants based on their appearance. Investigations revealed that the nursery had not met all the requirements for organic delivery. Moreover, traces of prohibited pesticides were found. The grower could no longer sell his products as organic, and major German retailers withdrew their contracts.
Although the court assumes that the nursery did not intend and could not foresee the severe consequences of the faulty delivery, the court finds that the company 'took the risk of damaging the good name of the German grower as an organic farmer through conscious recklessness.'
This is significant for the court 'since the organic market is based on trust.' German retailers ceased their cooperation with the grower. 'As a result of this damage to his honor and good name as an organic farmer, the grower's life was turned upside down, he was unable to regain the market's trust in time, leading to the eventual loss of his business. This, undoubtedly, must have caused a lot of stress, but seems (fortunately) not to have led to mental injury. Moreover, the grower – as evidenced by various internet publications submitted by the Dutch nursery – has apparently managed to restore his reputation successfully in the end.'
In 2021, the bankruptcy of the German grower was lifted.