2021-02-26 20:00 ET - News Release
Mr. Raymond Lai reports
MAPLE LEAF GREEN WORLD INC. ANNOUNCES CORPORATE UPDATE AND DEVELOPMENTS IN LITIGATION MATTERS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA
Telkwa facility
Matters with Maple Leaf's former lessor, Woodmere Nursery Ltd., Telkwa, B.C.
Maple Leaf's goal was to complete the Telkwa facility by securing a mortgage with the purchase of the land from Woodmere. As a result of Maple Leaf's application for subdivision of Woodmere's land, upon which the company was constructing its facility, not being successful, Maple Leaf needed to halt the completion of that facility nearly two years ago. The company thereby discontinued its lease payments to Woodmere and continued communicating with Woodmere to find a solution. Recently, Woodmere has commenced legal proceedings against the company to collect unpaid rent and associated expenses. Woodmere is seeking from the company $500,000 in damages. Woodmere has also terminated its lease to the company, thereby eliminating Maple Leaf's interests in its unfinished facility.
As such, Maple Leaf has counterclaimed against Woodmere on claims that Woodmere's acts and omissions at the time of leasing materially contributed detrimentally to the company's goals not being achieved, thereby damaging the company. In Maple Leaf's counterclaim against Woodmere, Maple Leaf has sought damages for lost value of the company's lease expenses, for the forfeited value of the facility of $11-million and for damages for lost business opportunities of $20-million.
Related matters -- addressing Maple Leaf's contractors' claims for the Telkwa facility
In related matters, litigation continues from Maple Leaf's contractors for its former facility, which claim damages for unpaid construction invoices. These eight separate actions brought against the company, directly or indirectly, have now been consolidated into a single action, where the primary defendants are Maple Leaf and Woodmere, against whose title to its property the contractors have registered builder liens. In that consolidated action, a case planning conference is scheduled for March 12, 2021, and a three-week trial has been scheduled for late June and July, 2021. Woodmere and Maple Leaf are strenuously defending this action. The company does not expect the actions to proceed on the scheduled trial dates, having been set too early for all parties to be ready to proceed. In those combined actions, the claims against Woodmere and Maple Leaf now exceed $4-million (with claims against Woodmere and its title to its property being less, due to builder lien claim limitations). One other contractor to the company obtained a B.C. Securities Commission Smithers default judgment against the company in fourth quarter 2019 for nearly $500,000, for which judgment the contractor has not taken any further court proceedings.