News Judge's ruling
Former DOC members are entitled to a merger bonus
The court of Assen has ruled in an interlocutory judgment that DOC Kaas must still pay the merger bonus, says lawyer Dinant te Biesebeek, who represents the dairy farmers. The case was brought at the end of 2017, because they say they were not informed that they would not be entitled to the merger bonus if they were to become a member. DOC Kaas is considering the verdict.
At the end of 2017, a collective of 63 dairy farmers filed a lawsuit against the DOC Kaas, because they were not informed that they were not entitled to the merger bonus if they became a member. On September 2, 2020 decided
The merger between the cooperative DOC Kaas and the German DMK was voted down in 2011 by the member dairy farmers of DOC. In May 2015, both parties tried again, this time 95% of the DOC members voted in favour. This was because the Hoogeveen dairy processor promised that the merger would benefit the milk price and that the members would receive part of the transaction amount. The merger took place in 2016, the payment was added to the milk price as a plus.
Terminate membership
The milk price also lagged behind that of other dairy processors after the merger, the dairy farmers in question noted. This ensured that in the period 2016 to 2018, more than 300 dairy farmers packed their bags and joined other milk processors. In response to the departure, DOC withheld the previously paid share of the transactions from the last milk money to be paid, writes lawyer Te Biesebeek. This is based on a provision from 2016 added by the Council of Members within the Bylaws, in which it was briefly stated that the members would only be entitled to the merger bonus if they remained a member until at least the year 2018. Dairy farmers who left at the end of 2016 were also cut on the milk price.
A collective of 63 dairy farmers then took the cooperative to court because they did not agree with the deduction upon departure. They would not have been aware of the added provision responsible for this deduction. In an earlier interlocutory judgment, the court in Assen already ruled that the discount of 1 cent per kilogram at the end of 2016 is contrary to the principle of equality that applies to members of an association. With this judgment, the court issued an order to prove evidence to DOC. It had to demonstrate that the member dairy farmers had been informed about the added provision at the time of the merger vote.
Judge's ruling
Last Wednesday (September 2), the case came back to court. This time DOC had to be able to demonstrate that the members were informed of the added provision. The dairy processor was unable to pass the evidentiary order, the court concluded in an interim judgment after several witnesses had been heard. The members were not informed before or during the merger vote that they were only entitled to the merger bonus if they remained members for the next 3 years. According to Te Biesebeek, the court also concluded that the members could not have been informed, because the addition was only conceived and recorded later than the vote.
The court therefore ruled that the dairy farmers are still entitled to the transaction sum, even if they terminated their membership before 2019. The participating dairy farmers can only enforce payment of overdue milk money when the court issues a final judgment.
Response DOC
DOC Kaas says it is considering the judge's ruling. The cooperative does not yet regard the ruling in the interim judgment as a runaway race, as DOC Kaas was in favor of this case during summary proceedings in 2017.
Jorine Cosse
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