Posts By: Bryan Nickerson

PACA: Allocation of Risk of Loss from Romaine Food Safety Alert Depends on Terms of Sale

The advisory warning issued last week about an E. coli outbreak in romaine lettuce has triggered numerous questions regarding the legal ramifications between seller and buyer with any affected romaine that was already received, or in-transit, or being prepared for shipment.  The allocation of the risk of loss depends on the terms of sale. For ...

The Burden of Proof to establish Normal or Abnormal Transportation

When it comes to in-transit temperatures, it’s not always black and white to definitively establish if the shipment was affected by improper in-transit temperature maintenance. When the transportation record (temperature recorder/Carrier Download) clearly documents temperature abuse for a sustained period of time, the shipper should have no problem enforcing its FOB contract. However, what…

Romaine outbreak and understanding commercial contract implications under PACA

With the Advisory from U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Center for Disease Control announcements on November 20th and November 26th, the Trade Practices Department of Western Growers has fielded many calls from shippers on sales contract implications, rights, responsibilities and payment of fulfilled shipments. It is clear that this outbreak has triggered numerous questions ...