New trial this Tuesday, January 25 in the case between the Dairy Cooperative of the Basque Country and the company Axima Refrigeration France, a subsidiary of Engie. The CLPB accuses the latter of poor workmanship during the construction work of the Fromagerie des Aldudes in 2014. In the first instance, on July 1, 2019, Axima was ordered to pay more than 1 million euros to the cooperative for the prejudice suffered concerning the material part. The court of Pau was brought, this Tuesday, to examine the appeal lodged by the company, but also the immaterial damage suffered by the CLPB. This one estimates it at 11 million euros.
Accounts in the red due to malfunctions
The cooperative speaks of poor workmanship observed in the “temperature management, hygrometry, air flow in maturing cellars…”. They would have caused malfunctions with very harmful consequences: “the impossibility of marketing homogeneous products on the lactic range, significant market losses, an unsustainable forecast and accounts in the red…”writes the CLPB, which found itself in a very complicated economic situation.
Dysfunctions scared away half of the members. “If we were around a hundred breeders when the Fromagerie was launched, today we are around fifty producers who are still present despite the delays in payment of milk.“The cooperative, which carried out the repair of the tool in June 2020, affirms that the turnover of the Fromagerie des Aldudes, which employs 31 employees, is now “constantly progressing with a financial balance envisaged for this end of the year.” But a very delicate balance.
The CLPB owes 5.7 million euros to its producers
The structure would not have gone far from the disaster. She lost customers “contracts have been broken, markets lost. The reputation of the cooperative and its image have been tarnished.” The Basque Country Dairy Cooperative estimates this immaterial damage at 11 million euros. According to her, the outcome of the trial is essential “to relieve the dairy’s cash flow, and enable milk producers to recover their dues.“ Most have not received their milk payments for more than two years. The CLPB owes them 5.7 million euros.
About thirty of these producers who are members of the Fromagerie des Aldudes went to the court in Pau on Tuesday 25 January. The Court of Appeal will deliver its judgment on March 29.