The dining room at the Glasbern Inn
The Glasbern Inn, a bed and breakfast with a farm-to-table restaurant, announced today that it will be ending its farm operations and switching to using sustainable products instead. The move comes as the inn will be selling off its farm operations and a portion of its land to pay for a lawsuit recently ruled in the US District Court for the Easton District of PA against Glasbern and its owner, Albert Granger.
The lawsuit came after a Glasbern employee was hit by a 1200lb cow and resulted in paraplegia. The Glasbern’s insurance company, after receiving the workman’s comp claim, contends that Wells Fargo (the broker who issued Glasbern’s worker’s comp. insurance), as well as the inn and Albert Granger all acted fraudulently in not telling the insurance company about the inn’s farming operations.
The Zenith Insurance Company, as a result, was awarded damages which, according to The Glasbern, may result in a $4 million+ judgment. They purport that the PA Compensation Bureau classifies their farm as an incidental operation of running the inn.
The inn said in a statement that it is selling the farm animals, as well as some of its over 130 acres to raise money for a $2.4 million bond to appeal the judgment. The Glasbern opened in 1985 and began farming in 2005.
Update: The Glasbern Inn noted that they will still grow their own vegetables on-property as well as raise animals for eggs. Meats will be locally sourced whenever possible.