Dive Brief:
- New Zealand's High Court agreed to a request from Fonterra to stay a lawsuit against the company by Danone.
- Danone wants the dairy co-operative to pay for for costs the French company incurred when it recalled infant formula from shelves across Asia after a food safety scare triggered by Fonterra.
- Justice Geoffrey Venning issued the stay, which puts the case on hold but doesn't resolve it, pending the result of arbitration in Singapore related to similar claims.
Dive Insight:
Ever since Danone announced it would sue over the false-alarm recall, there's been reason to worry whether or not Fonterra could survive.
But in the months since there have been developments that would suggest, at least to someone prone to optimism, that Fonterra might be able to put the scandal behind it. Certainly China's decision in April to let Fonterra sell in the country again was one such development. And the stay from New Zealand's High Court is another.