Organigram settling class action that alleged pot tainted with pesticides
CBC
New Brunswick cannabis producer Organigram has agreed to settle a class action lawsuit that alleged its medical marijuana was tainted with pesticides, the law firm that filed the case announced Friday.
The proposed $2.31 million settlement to class members stills needs to be approved by the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, where the class action was filed.
The case stemmed from allegations that marijuana grown and sold by the Moncton-based company contained pesticides. The company declined to comment Friday as the case is still going on.
The class-action lawsuit was filed after two large recalls in late 2016 and early 2017 of medical cannabis produced between Feb. 1 and Dec. 16, 2016, after testing found "trace" amounts of bifenazate, malathion and myclobutanil.
The pesticides are authorized for agricultural use but not for cannabis.
The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal ruled in April 2020 that the plaintiff failed to present enough evidence that the cannabis caused illness. As a result, members of the class can't claim damages for health effects.
Dawn Rae Downton of Halifax is the representative plaintiff in the case represented by lawyer Ray Wagner.
Downton had alleged she experienced nausea, dizziness and headaches, symptoms that subsided after she stopped consuming Organigram's cannabis.
Wagner's law firm and Organigram announced the proposed settlement in separate news releases Friday morning.
It says the settlement would apply to all those who purchased medical cannabis from Organigram that was the subject of a voluntary or involuntary recall on or before Feb. 14, 2019. The case alleges those people, known as the class members, didn't receive the product they had bargained for and should be compensated with a return of the purchase price.
The proposed settlement still needs approval of the Nova Scotia court.
A hearing has been scheduled for Aug. 31 in Halifax.
Wagner's news release says that if the court accepts the settlement, eligible class members will automatically receive an email from a court-appointed settlement administrator about their payment and the payment itself.
A news release from Organigram says the payments will be "less any refunds they have already received, as well as the payment of legal fees."
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