Fruit entrepreneur Roger Horak wins injunction against estranged blueberry partner and breeder Vince Mazzardis ahead of Supreme Court testing tussle.
Blueberry entrepreneur Roger Horak has won an injunction against his estranged business partner Vince Mazzardis ahead of a tussle over plant testing.
The Court of Appeal this week re-imposed the injunction after Mr Horak's legal team spelt out concerns about Mr Mazzardis, a plant breeder, removing a quarter of the blueberry material from a property formerly used by their partnership.
It clears the way for Mr Horak to go back to the Supreme Court to argue for a testing and sampling regime on the material ahead of a legal battle about what plants, roots and seedlings are partnership property.
Supreme Court judge Jenni Hill granted Mr Horak and his family company Bisa Trading an interim injunction in October over blueberry material removed by Mr Mazzardis and his wife Leasa from a netting-covered area on the Wilbinga property they owned.
Justice HIll lifted the injunction in November, but the Court of Appeal re-imposed it over the movement of blueberry plants, cuttings and breeding materals in March pending this week's appeal judgment.
The Court of Appeal judgment reveals the relationship between Mr Horak and Mr Mazzardis began deteriorating about three years ago. The partnership had made a fortune commercialising the Early Blue and Next Progeny varieties.
Mr Horak claimed in a court deposition that his partner had failed since 2017 in an obligation to produce new varieties of blueberries. Mr Horak said his business partner and family had been paid more than $30 million in royalties over seven years to 2024.
Mr Horak's company Bisa Trading terminated the partnership in October 2024, with it formally ending in 2025.
The estranged former partners are now locked in a Supreme Court battle about the extent of the partnership's assets, including what blueberry varieties and potential variations it owned, and how the business should be sold.
In his appeal judgment, Justice Joshua Thomson said Mr Mazzardis had asserted he had engaged "in separate personal breeding activities" without telling anyone.
Given the breeding is "peculiarly within" Mr Mazzardis's knowledge, it was difficult for the Horak camp to establish whether any of the disputed material was derived from varieties developed by the partnership.
Mr Mazzardis appeared to regard all plant material in his possession as his own and available to use for breeding purposes, the judge said.
Mr Horak's legal team has applied to the Supreme Court for sampling and testing to be carried out on material removed from the Wilbinga property.
The Mazzardis legal team said it did not object to testing, but wanted it to be carried out by a truly independent expert.
Appeal judges John Vaughan and Gail Archer agreed injunctive relief should be granted for the limited time necessary to allow testing and sampling applications to be heard in the Supreme Court.
If the injunction was not granted, evidentiary material critical to the development of Mr Horak's and Bisa's case would "cease to be available for inspection, sampling and testing for the purpose of the primary proceedings".
The case will go back to the Supreme Court for a decision about what, if any, testing regime should be put in place.
