A Canadian company has petitioned the British Columbia Supreme Court to enforce payment of CA$761,000 ($632,000) in damages by a second hemp operator in a dispute over the disbursement of biomass.
Under a partial final award announced May 10, the arbitrator found that BC Hop Company Ltd., Abbotsford, BC, sold biomass reserved for Kelowna-based processor EnCann without negotiating with EnCann for the right to do so.
The arbitrator also ordered BC Hop to return a CA$100,000 ($83,000) deposit. Interest and costs are yet to be determined in the case. BC Hop specializes in growing and processing plants for food and medicine.
Two-year battle
“This has been a hard-fought 2-year battle for us, with BC Hop Co. doing its best to avoid and evade accountability at every turn,” Lincoln Johnson, CEO of EnCann, said in a press release.
The arbitrator found that BC Hop materially breached a contract made in 2018 in which it agreed to sell 10 metric tons of industrial hemp to EnCann.
“We filed this enforcement petition because Dwayne Stewart, CEO of the BC Hop Co. has made it very clear to us that he has no intention of ever paying this debt, so we are taking every legal step necessary to protect our interests,” Johnson said.
EnCann currently has an application for a hemp processing license under review by Health Canada.
