Mountain-West sues former directors for dated dealings
Mountain-West Resources Inc MWR
Shares issued 11,158,879 Mar 22 close $0.12
Mon 22 Mar 99 Street Wire
by Brent Mudry
Mountain-West Resources has filed suit against former president Michael
Joseph Fitzgerald and former directors Timothy Britton Brock and Harry
Ranspot relating to dealings in four properties more than a decade ago. In
a statement of claim filed Friday in the Supreme Court of British Columbia,
Mountain-West seeks unspecified general and special damages, and a
declaration of constructive trusteeship over the properties in the United
States. The named defendants include Metal-Ex Management, Mr. Fitzgerald's
personal geological engineering services company, and Pacific Western
Investments. Lawyer Daniel Gleadle of Lang Michener Lawrence & Shaw claims
the former director defendants breached their fiduciary duties. The suit
was filed more than six months after Mr. Fitzgerald resigned as a director
in early September.
The suit relates to the SJ and HB gold claims in Nevada, the Sand Creek and
Overland uranium prospects in Wyoming, and the Lockridge/Niobara oil and
gas prospect in Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas. The case traces back to
1974, when Mr. Fitzgerald, Mountain-West's president, located and recorded
the SJ claims in Eureka County, in the Carlin Trend. The suit claims Mr.
Fitzgerald "kept secret" the claims, for himself and Mr. Ranspot. Mr.
Gleadle also claims that Mr. Fitzgerald secretly staked and recorded the HB
claims in Nye county in Nevada in 1975, which were transferred to
Mountain-West after he found that further development work was not
warranted. The suit further claims Mr. Fitzgerald and Mr. Brock located
several uranium claims in Wyoming, but developed the claims for their own
benefit, using Pacific Western or its constituent company, Sioux Mountain
Mines.
The ex-directors also allegedly breached their duties by selling
Mountain-West's interest in the Lockridge/Niobara project's oil and gas
rights, covering 180,000 contiguous acres in four states, to Alpar
Resources, on "improvident" terms. Statements of defence have not yet been
filed. |
