A judge of the Court of Queen's Bench granted a creditor protection extension to the family of Henk Tepper, the New Brunswick potato farmer who's been in a Beirut jail for the last four months.
The family is indebted to many creditors and has been asking for more time to deal with those creditors.
On Friday a judge granted Tobique Farms — located in the northwestern New Brunswick community of Drummond — creditor protection until September.
"Without today's positive decision, a number of things would've happened," said Tepper's lawyer, James Mockler. "The company would've attempted farm debt mediation ... but farm debt doesn't offer the same protections that CCAA (Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act) does."
He believes the bank wanted to put the farm in receivership and begin selling assets.
The Tepper family had been seeking an extension until Oct. 18, so that crops now in the field could be harvested and the revenue generated be paid back to creditors.
BMO, the farm's main creditor, has some issues with the way the business is being run in his absence.
According to court documents, the Tobique Corporations didn't give the bank proper notice they were filing for creditor protection. They owe BMO more than $8 million and the bank wants to protect its interests.
"It's critical that Henk returns home. He has a great deal of knowledge, not only with respect to the farming of the operation by itself, but also contracts that could be put in place to sell some of the potatoes," said Mockler.
"Anything we can do to assist in his return to Canada, I think only assists the company and therefore assists the creditors as well."
However positive Friday's news was, there's been no further movement on getting Tepper his freedom.
Mockler visited Tepper recently in Beirut, and spoke to him on July 12 through the bars of his prison cell.
"It's not an individual cell, it seems to be a communal cell," said Mockler. "I was concerned, frankly, with his physical and mental state of health."
Mockler had visited Tepper about three weeks prior to his last visit, and said he seemed more depressed and desperate about his condition this latest visit.
He said on his first visit to the Beirut jail, there was a consul representative from the Canadian embassy who asked Tepper about his health and if he was interested in seeing a doctor.
Tepper told them that he did want to see a doctor, but wanted a Canadian doctor. The consul told Tepper that it wasn't an option.
Mockler said Tepper didn't want the chance of going to a hospital and being handcuffed or chained to a bed.
Mockler said he encouraged Tepper to seek medical help, and said Tepper is now in a position to agree to see a doctor.
"When I was there and after having first seen Henk in his prison, I immediately had people contact Foreign Affairs to suggest to them strongly that Henk needed some medical attention," said Mockler. "I made efforts to reach the Canadian embassy while I was there, and I was unsuccessful in doing that."
He said he did receive notice from the embassy later saying they would not become involved.
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