Ridley Inc. TSX: RCL

MANKATO, MINNESOTA and WINNIPEG, MANITOBA--(Marketwire - July 17, 2008) - Ridley Inc. (TSX:RCL) learned today that the Supreme Court of Canada has denied the application of Ridley Inc. and the Government of Canada for leave to appeal the June 21, 2007 decision of the Court of Appeal of Ontario that refused early dismissal of the proposed BSE class action lawsuit filed against Ridley Inc. and the Government of Canada by an Ontario dairy farmer. Today's ruling has no bearing on the settlement agreement which Ridley entered into with the representative plaintiffs in February 2008.

On September 5, 2007, Ridley announced that it would file an application with the Supreme Court of Canada seeking leave to appeal the decision of Court of Appeal of Ontario in which Ridley sought early dismissal of the Ontario lawsuit for failure to state actionable claims under Canadian law. Today's decision by the Supreme Court of Canada only relates to the action in Ontario and is not a decision on the merits of the plaintiff's claims.

On February 5, 2008, Ridley announced that it had reached a settlement agreement with the representative plaintiffs in the BSE class action lawsuits. Motions were heard in the Ontario Superior Court in June 2008 for certification of the Ontario lawsuit as a class action and approval of the settlement agreement, but no decision has been rendered yet by the Court on those motions. The lawsuit in Quebec has been authorized as a class action and the settlement agreement between Ridley and the plaintiffs has been approved by the Superior Court of Quebec. Today's Supreme Court of Canada ruling has no bearing on the settlement agreement, or the Ontario motions, or the Superior Court of Quebec decision.

If the settlement agreement is approved, Ridley will pay CAD $6 million into a plaintiffs' settlement trust fund and will effectively cap its exposure to the claims made by the plaintiffs to that amount. Ridley will remain a participant in the plaintiffs' continuing litigation against the Government of Canada. In agreeing to the settlement, Ridley made no admission of liability or wrongdoing in the matter, and will continue to contest any allegation it was responsible for the plaintiffs' damages.

Plaintiffs filed claims in Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan in April 2005 against Ridley Inc. and the Government of Canada for losses allegedly incurred by Canadian cattle farmers as a result of international bans on trade in Canadian beef following the May 2003 diagnosis of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy in an Alberta cow.

Ridley Inc. (www.ridleyinc.com), headquartered in Mankato, Minnesota and Winnipeg, Manitoba, is one of North America's leading commercial animal nutrition companies. Ridley employs more than 1,000 people in the United States and Canada in the manufacture and distribution of a full range of animal nutrition products under highly regarded trade names.