DOC Kaas also fails on appeal

DOC Kaas still has to pay the withheld merger bonus to 63 former members of the cooperative. The court in Leeuwarden decided this in an appeal today (September 27).

The case dates back to 2017 when a collective of disgruntled dairy farmers filed a lawsuit against DOC Kaas. The entrepreneurs were not informed that they were not entitled to the merger bonus with the German dairy cooperative DMK. The merger took place in 2016.

According to DOC Kaas, members were only entitled to the merger bonus totaling €20 million if they remained members until 2018. The litigating group had already switched to another processor before that. The judge ruled in favor of the dairy farmers in 2020, after which DOC Kaas appealed.

So now the dairy cooperative is once again failing, although the cooperative continues to claim to be in the right at high and low. Cooperative chairman Guus Mensink says he regrets the decision. The board of DOC Kaas is still considering next steps. Incidentally, the merger amount of €2,5 million has already been raised by the 63 former members. In the ruling in 2020, the judge ruled that the judgment is provisionally enforceable.

Wouter Job

Wouter Baan is editor-in-chief of Boerenbusiness. He also focuses on dairy, pig and meat markets. He also follows (business) developments within agribusiness and interviews CEOs and policymakers.

w.baan@boerenbusiness. Nl

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