ROCKLAND (AP) – A lawyer in a price-fixing lawsuit told jurors that 800 blueberry growers “did not receive the fruit of their labor” because of a conspiracy by blueberry processors from 1996 to 1999.

But lawyers for the processors say the growers have taken facts out of context to try to show a conspiracy.

The lawsuit, which focuses on the way most of the state’s wild blueberry growers are paid for the annual harvest, began on Monday and could take up to two weeks in Knox County Superior Court.

Nathan Pease of Union filed the suit more than three years ago accusing the processors of conspiring to set low field prices.

Growers have traditionally received an initial payment of 25 cents a pound when the fruit is delivered. The final price, however, is not determined until after the harvest is over, in the fall or winter.

Pease’s lawsuit accuses three companies of determining what the final price will be among themselves without negotiating with growers.

Named in the lawsuit are Jasper Wyman & Son of Milbridge, Cherryfield Foods Inc. of Cherryfield and Allen’s Blueberry Freezer Inc. of Ellsworth.

A fourth processor, Merrill Blueberry Farms Inc. of Ellsworth, was named as a defendant in the original lawsuit but Justice Joseph Jabar announced Monday that the company was no longer part of the case.

During the period in question, the total prices paid to farmers was between 50 and 55 cents between 1996 and 1999.

William Robitzek, who represents the growers, said there’s no “smoking gun” but he said there’s enough circumstantial evidence to point to a conspiracy. The evidence includes memos between buyers talking about matching each other’s prices and the fact that some buyers from competing companies vacation together.

James Kilbreth, Wyman’s lawyer, pointed out that prices were high during the time of alleged price-fixing and he showed jurors a chart that he said indicated Wyman would have lost money if growers were paid more.

Melissa Hewey, lawyer for Cherryfield Foods, told jurors that no one has ever claimed that owners got together to discuss field prices. “What you’ll see are documents saying, ‘We’ve got to match that price,”‘ she said.

She said buyers from competing companies get together occasionally as part of efforts to promote the industry as a whole, not to fix prices. “Where is the evidence of a conspiracy?” she said.

AP-ES-11-04-03 1850EST