Lawyers for Aldi and the Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA) are squaring off over whether the government body should be able to wade into a High Court hearing over the retailer’s delisting of a supplier.
Legal representatives from both sides clashed in London yesterday, with lawyers from the GCA insisting it should be able to give evidence in the case, according to The Grocer.
The case surrounds two farmers Matthew Rawson and John Clappison - who owned and ran W Clappison Ltd (WCL) - who are suing Aldi for £3.7m in losses. They argue that their business was delisted without due notice and in contravention of the Groceries Supply Code of Practice (GSCOP).
In December, Aldi was effectively accused of forcing the company - one of its longest-serving suppliers - to close.
Aldi, which strongly denies the claims, has argued that the GCA’s intervention would add unnecessary complexity and cost to the trial and expressed fears the intervention could be a “partisan” move.
However, the GCA’s lawyer strongly denied Aldi’s claims and said the body should be allowed to have its day in court.
WCL supplied Aldi for more than 20 years before the company terminated its supply agreement in February last year. The business claims this decision was made after it had sowed its crop, which the farmers said led to the collapse of the business.
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