Litigation against local forestry contractors in Arrow Lakes that was filed by an American collection company has for the time being been put on hold by a Delaware judge. On January 20 a hearing was held in a U.S. court with PricewaterhouseCooper legal counsel attending via telephone conference.
Contractors raised concerns with the judge who agreed that something should be done. The orders that are being entered did not affect any of the Canadian entities, or at least they should not. The case was pretty much put on hold while mediators and lawyers tried to determine the best possible route for the lawsuit.
A spokesperson for the contractors says that she was notified of the lawsuit by mail, like a lot of others in the area. She claims that she has lined up her defense in case the proceedings continue, but she believes that the lawsuit is simply a last-ditch scheme to get cash.
The Minnesota-based legal debt collection company asked the contractors business, Summit Lake Services for $19,000 for work completed three months before Pope and Talbots collapse. Another local contractor, Reg Gustafson of Cougar Valley Ventures also seems to believe that this is a ploy for money. Furious about being asked to return $41,000, Gustafson claims that they will have to put him in jail before he pays up. He says that although he took the legal papers very seriously when they were first served, he now has been able to put the situation into context.
He alleges that he will continue to take the litigation seriously, but he will make a point of saying no. Crystal Larder of Mountain Meadow Contracting owns a company that was asked to repay $49,000. She hasn’t put up any defenses yet, but even if the local contractors were to be tried in court, it must be in Canada.
Mallory Megan works for a debt collection agency. Also she writes articles on business, finance, the credit industry and collection agencies.