SEPANSO and Générations Futures v. GAEC Rémy Castel and Château de Barbe Escalette

JICABJI15000036  14143000030
May 23, 2014
Provisional judgment
France, Bordeaux

Environmental NGOs
SEPANSO Gironde, Générations Futures
GAEC Rémy Castel, Château de Barbe Escalette
François Ruffié, François Lafforgue

Criminal court
Fungicide, Eperon, Pepper, Bordeaux mixture, Heliocuivre, Heliosoufre S
Condemnation of the vineyards for illegal spraying of pesticides.
Appeal Court of Bordeaux, France

November 18, 2020
Positive
The 2 châteaux were sentenced by the Bordeaux Court of Appeal to suspended fines. In first instance, the judge had ordered a dismissal in the absence of formally established evidence that the winds were blowing at more than 19 km/h at the site during the disputed spraying.
No description

23 schoolchildren were taken ill and their teacher hospitalized in emergency following pesticide spraying carried out on May 5, 2014, on vineyard plots near the Villeneuve-de-Blaye elementary school (Gironde), when weather conditions relating to the strength of the wind were not favorable for this operation. On Sept. 4, 2017, the judge issued an order of dismissal for lack of objective elements because there is no wind measurement device in the commune. NGOs SEPANSO and Générations Futures decided to appeal against the order. On July 3, 2018, the Investigating Chamber of the Bordeaux Court of Appeals cancelled the dismissal of the case by the investigating magistrate of Libourne and ordered the case to be referred to the criminal court of Libourne. On April 30, 2019, the criminal court of Libourne acquitted the two wineries. The public prosecutor of Bordeaux decided to appeal the decision with SEPANSO. The 2 châteaux are sentenced by the Court of Appeal of Bordeaux to suspended fines on Nov. 18, 2020.