Test case soon for F&Mclaims
Test case soon for F&Mclaims
By Alistair Driver
LAWYERS are finalising details of a legal case that could pave the way for a huge compensation claim against MAFF from farmers who lost animals in the foot-and-mouth cull.
Somerset lawyer Tim Russ says the government could have to pay out millions of pounds in damages to farmers if the test case he is preparing succeeds.
MAFF statistics show over 4m animals have been slaughtered because of F&M. But industry sources say this figure could be as high as 8m as MAFF has not accounted for all the animals slaughtered on suspicion and as contiguous cases.
Many farmers who lost healthy animals want to sue and have contacted lawyers. Mr Russ, of Taunton solicitors Clarke, Willmott and Clarke, says much rests on a test case involving a Devon pig producer who lost his animals in the cull.
"I am one week away from being able to present MAFF with the preliminary letter of claim," said Mr Russ. If the case is successful – he gives it a "50:50 chance" – it will pave the way for a group action, he says.
He believed MAFF has contravened the EU Animal Health directive. "The directive only allows the government to monitor contiguous animals to see if they are infected, not to cull them."
He claimed MAFF has based its policy on domestic legislation, which is overridden by EU law.
Worcester farmers Nicola and Andy Morris, from Tibberton, have launched a group, Farmers for Livestock, which plans to co-ordinate legal action and is in touch with another solicitor. Mrs Morris said farmers are furious MAFF gave the impression they had to comply with the cull.
A MAFF spokeswoman said the ministry checked the legal implications of before embarking on the cull policy. "The dangerous contacts were slaughtered on expert advice that there was a real risk of infection," she said.
MAFFs cull policy came in for further criticism when it emerged that 30% of the farms confirmed as infected by vets showed no signs of F&M in tests at the Pirbright Laboratory, in Surrey. Of 250 animals were slaughtered on suspicion of disease, only 46 cases were confirmed laboratory tests.
Critics have pointed to more evidence of unnecessary culling, although the government insists the figures do not mean the farms in question were not infected. *
• See Business, p 26.