The lawsuit filed by French agri-business cooperative Agrial Group against Seattle Cider Company and Two Beers Brewing Company founder Joel VandenBrink has been settled. A countersuit filed by VandenBrink was also settled.
According to court records, both sides agreed on June 30 to dismiss the case — which was slated to go to trial in January 2021 — with prejudice — meaning dismissed permanently — “without costs or attorneys’ fees to any party.”.
Agrial, which acquired Seattle Cider and Two Beers in September 2016, filed suit against VandenBrink in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington nearly one year ago. Agrial accused VandenBrink of breach of contract and fiduciary duties for allegedly falsifying sales to increase a payout by $6.8 million.
The lawsuit alleged that VandenBrink, who continued on as CEO following the sale, realized in mid-2018 that Seattle Cider’s sales wouldn’t be enough to trigger a higher earn-out payment. VandenBrink was accused of devising a scheme to “game the numbers” by working out a deal with the cider maker’s largest wholesaler to take “roughly triple the normal shipments” at the end of 2018 in order to inflate sales for the fiscal year and goose 2018 EBITDA, thus activating a payment.
VandenBrink denied the allegations.
In a statement to Brewbound, VandenBrink’s attorney, James Shore, of Stoel Rives LLP, wrote: “Joel is happy with the outcome and busy planning his next venture.”
Agrial USA provided its own statement.
“Agrial USA and its affiliate companies have settled the lawsuit with Joel VandenBrink and PNW Holdco. LLC and at this time have no other comment to make.”
Year-to-date through August 8, off-premise dollar sales of Seattle Cider products are up 6.7%, to $4.46 million, while sales of Two Beers have declined 7.3%, to $336,700, according to market research firm Nielsen.
Editor’s Note: This story was updated to reflect VandenBrink’s countersuit against Agrial was also settled.