Fonterra Clawback Case

Settlement Agreement entered 4 November 2022. Group Member claim form submissions have now closed.

The settlement approval hearing on 28 February 2023 went well. A further hearing was held on 23 June 2023. Orders have now been made by the Court dated 14 April 2023 (available for download below) and 17 October 2023 which approve the settlement and allow for the administration of distributions. The Court published a detailed judgment about why it approved the settlement. That judgment is available on the Supreme Court of Victoria website for the Fonterra Class Action.

Farmers receiving payments were informed in May to July 2023 of the estimated payout. Following the Court’s orders provided 17 October 2023 we are hoping that around November 2023, possibly just before, notices will be sent to farmers indicating their firm payout amount, as well as the actual payouts being made. If there are no unexpected developments. The timeline is subject to change.

Mediation: Thursday 13 October 2022 - COMPLETED

Trial: Tuesday 15 November 2022 - VACATED

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Media

This case seeks financial compensation for dairy farmers who supplied Fonterra in May and June 2016 and haven’t forgiven the retrospective pricing. The class action seeks orders that Fonterra’s step-down was unlawful, including that it was misleading and deceptive conduct as well as unconscionable conduct.

The case was filed in the Supreme Court of Victoria on 17 June 2020. Court hearings have taken place throughout 2020, 2021 and now 2022. Orders that Fonterra discover documents were made on 21 April 2021. Mediation with Fonterra has been set for 13 October 2022 and trial has been set to commence 15 November 2022. As well as producing 55,000 documents as ordered by the Court, including New Zealand board minutes and internal pricing communications, Fonterra has filed detailed witness statements of Matthew Watt, Judith Swales, Michael Cronin and Mark Conway. The plaintiffs have filed their witness statements, and five expert reports (from a world class milk price expert, a forensic accountant, an expert industry consultant, and industry expert and leader, and a psychologist).

More details of the case, plus key documents (including official Supreme Court of Victoria summaries), can be found below.

To be kept informed, help the case go ahead, and ensure you don’t miss out on any compensation made, please provide basic contact details (this does not create any commitment):

Only if you want to print something - Download a printer friendly PDF version of the full legal claim we propose, which includes the Expression of Interest Form


Adley Burstyner and Harwood Andrews are working together on a claim against milk processor Fonterra for the 2015/2016 Farmgate Milk Price clawbacks and step downs forced on Victorian dairy farmers. Harwood Andrews is supporting the action, as it is Victoria’s oldest and largest rural and regional lawfirm.

The actions are about ensuring that dairy farmers receive the price promised for milk and that processors don’t act without regard to their legal obligations, let alone their moral ones. The case involves taking a stand against retrospective pricing and exploitation.

Although the ACCC prosecuted one processor in the Federal Court of Australia, Fonterra has not yet been held to account to the supplier group for the May 2016 step down and its devastating impact, which has left dairy farmers with long term significant unresolved financial losses.

To the best of our knowledge the class action we are preparing is the only group process for recovering the financial loss caused to farmers by Fonterra’s 2016 step down, and it is the only process seeking a finding that Fonterra acted unlawfully.

In short, we simply believe that farmers are legally entitled to get paid the price they were promised, for the milk they delivered and that a clawback was illegal. We believe that processors unlawfully underpaid farmers in the 2015/2016 financial year by the retrospective step downs.

A class action is an opportunity for farmers to jointly tackle that exploitation, and ensure processors don’t underestimate farmers’ ability to fight back even against multinational corporations.

There are some new dynamic smaller processors these days, doing the “right thing”, but there is still at least one very large processor, Fonterra. A successful outcome to a class action may make a big difference to the way large processor conglomerates treat dairy farmers.

There will be NO up front cost to farmers for this action.

THE CASE WILL CLAIM FOR DAIRY FARMERS THE LOSS FROM THE STEP DOWN (LOST INCOME) AND CONSEQUENTIAL LOSSES, FOR EXAMPLE HAVING TO SELL COWS AT FIRE SALE PRICES AND THE IMPACT IN THE YEARS SINCE BY HAVING A SMALLER HERD THAN PLANNED. IT WILL ALSO CLAIM LOSSES FOR EXPENSES INCURRED THAT WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN IF FARMERS HAD KNOWN THE REAL PRICE OF $5.13, FOR EXAMPLE FEED AND FERTILISER.

Expressing your interest - if you supplied Fonterra milk in the 2015/2016 season.

Expressing your interest means that you will be kept in the loop about the case and be invited to participate. It will not commit you to anything. If there is inadequate expression of interest, the case might be discontinued - so it is important if you believe in the case that you register and inform other dairy farmer about it.

Also, for us to continue working on this matter we need to know that farmers are interested in benefiting from our efforts. This is important because having enough farmers involved is critical for the viability of a case, and because we only want to help if farmers want us to. We are trying to help farmers because we consider it an extremely worthwhile, important and urgent cause. 

In any event, the case is a way farmer losses can be recovered, and for sending a clear message that clawbacks will not be tolerated.

Because of the need to get as many farmers interested, please send the link to this webpage to other farmers, by phone, Facebook, your blogs, email or otherwise. You can use these share buttons: 

     

During COVID-19 we have temporarily removed a phone number and ask that in the first instance you email us and we will return your call. We will reinstate a telephone shortly. We apologise for any inconvenience.

Please feel free to email us any relevant documents, for example your contract with your processor or any written communications between you and your processor about the farmgate price. Our email address is info@adleyburstyner.com.au

“Call Out For More Farmers to Join Fonterra Class Action”

Stock & Land article published 28 April 2022