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Technology Stocks : Thermo Tech Technologies (TTRIF) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: john b who wrote (5717)	7/28/1999 12:29:00 AM
From: CAYMAN	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6467

René With His Version of Feud: May 26th, 1999 Back Issue From Richmond Review. rpl.richmond.bc.ca Food Waste Technology Spurs Legal Squabble Philip Raphael Contributor A Vancouver-based environmental firm plans on seeking as much as $55 million US in damages from a Langley company that recently opened an organic waste conversion plant on Mitchell Island. Stan Lis, president of Trooper Technologies Inc., said Thermo Tech Technologies Inc. stalled in providing crucial design drawings and information after his company purchased the exclusive rights for $500,000 in 1992 to build and operate plants, similar to the one in Mitchell Island, in 14 eastern European countries. In 1997, five years after acquiring the licence, Trooper Technologies was ready to start construction of its first two plants in Poland in the cities of Siedlce, 120 km east of Warsaw and Karczew, 18 km west of Warsaw. The company had spent $4.5 million acquiring land and meeting government regulations when it was realized the engineering plans from Thermo Tech were incomplete. "Under the agreement Thermo Tech was to supply us with all of the engineering drawings needed to build a plant," Lis said. "We had already picked out the two places for the plants, received the necessary government approvals and were ready to build when we realized we didn't have the complete plans." To secure the plans Trooper Technologies launched legal action. In the first ruling in B.C. Supreme Court on Jan. 20, 1998, Justice J. Cohen stated that Thermo Tech was in breach of its contract and Trooper Technologies was entitled to the technical drawings forthwith. Thermo Tech appealed that ruling, but lost. Lis said, Thermo Tech then dragged its feet in supplying the drawings and finally supplied a set months later that were still incomplete. Trooper Technologies then went back to court to get the proper set of documents. The judge ruled last July that Thermo Tech was in contempt of his earlier ruling to supply the drawings and fined the company $50,000 and ordered Thermo Tech resubmit a complete set of drawings. Further delays in receiving the information prompted Trooper Technologies to take more court action which resulted in another contempt of court ruling against Thermo Tech. On April 22 Judge Cohen levied another fine of $50,000 against Thermo Tech which then finally handed over the complete set of details for the plant. Now, Trooper Technologies has hired accounting firm Lindquist Avey to assess the damages it has incurred because of the delays. Preliminary estimates put the figure between $50 million to $55 million U.S. "It could even be higher, we don't know exactly how much the final figure might be until the forensic accounting is done," Lis said. "It not only has to take into account the money we've already spent but the business we've had to give up because the plant has not been built." Lis said he is expecting an out of court settlement with Thermo Tech. Rene Branconnier, Thermo Tech's president and CEO said he remains unconcerned over the issue and characterized the $100,000 contempt fines as the price of doing business. "We also believe that our legal representation was very poor in the case and decided to change lawyers midway through. By then it was too late for us to adequately defend our position," he said. "That aside we still believe the information (engineering plans) we provided Trooper Technologies under the licencing agreement was adequate." Branconnier said an independent study his company commissioned states that Trooper Technologies' plants in Poland were not feasible. "How can you sue for damages when what you are proposing won't work," he said. "Plus you've got to ask yourself, since they've had the plans for nearly a year what have they done with them?. If the project was so valuable, what's stopping them?"