Star-studded lawsuit

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This article was published 17/09/2015 (3942 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An ambitious plan to build a new paper mill in Manitoba, that would use agricultural waste such as wheat and flax straw to make paper, is now headed to court in a dispute that has snared Hollywood actor Woody Harrelson and former provincial finance minister Clayton Manness.

In court documents filed earlier this week, local businessman and founder of Prairie Paper Inc. Jeff Golfman alleges Harrelson, Manness and others conspired to not only boot him out off the company he created in 1998, but to devalue it to the point it became a shell of its former self.

Golfman said he could not comment on his claim as it’s now before the courts.

“Hopefully, one day we can talk about something more positive,” he said.

Golfman’s involvement with Prairie Paper Inc. (PPI) officially came to an end Sept. 8 after more than a year in which the documents allege Harrelson, Manness and others “thwarted and prevented” his efforts to save the company.

Golfman is suing Harrelson, Manness and others for unspecified damages for not only harming his business interest in PPI, but for intentionally inflicting economic harm. He also wants a court declaration that his shares in PPI be purchased by his former partners at a price in line with the company’s valuation in 2014 when it was healthier.

Manness, president of Man Agra Capital Inc., said he was notified of Golfman’s lawsuit Tuesday. Manness was a cabinet minister in former premier Gary Filmon’s government.

“The filing was disappointing, but it was not a surprise,” he said. “We will defend it.”

Also named in the claim is Harrelson’s manager/assistant Tracy Harshman. Neither was available Thursday. Other defendants are Golfman’s former partners in Vancouver and Texas.

None of the acrimony as described in Golfman’s 22-page lawsuit was on the horizon three years ago.

Harrelson, an avid environmentalist, had signed on as a partner in Golfman’s dream to mass produce treeless paper. A planned paper mill, estimated at $500 million, was to be built near Winnipeg to make 100 per cent tree-free, chlorine-free, sulphur-free wheat-straw paper.

Until then, Golfman was producing similar paper at mills in India, using 70 per cent wheat-straw fibre and 30 per cent tree fibre. The company’s Step Forward paper brand was sold in Staples stores in Canada and the U.S., and Golfman was lining up other clients such as Lyreco, a global paper distributor to businesses, and Basics, the office-supply distribution company.

In his claim, Golfman said he had also secured orders from the federal government, Walmart, Sprint, Lululemon, Pitney Bowes, Toyota, Supremex, AEG, Macerich, Texas A & M, Federated Cooperatives, SNC Lavalin, Red River College, the University of Manitoba, Simon Fraser University, Lowe Martin, Mountain Equipment Co-op and Office Max.

However, he said all that started to fall apart in early 2014, and as a result PPI’s sales of Step Forward paper began to fail after Harrelson, Harshman and Manness allegedly decided between themselves to halt production.

Golfman said in the lawsuit that happened after he fell into a dispute with Harrelson and Harshman over Harrelson’s “desire to have a very public contest” with a major maker of tree-based paper, in connection to that producer’s action to block a Fortune 500 company from buying paper from PPI.

“Relations deteriorated at the time between Golfman on the one hand, and Harrelson and Manness on the other,” the claim said.

Golfman said he had earlier disputes with Manness over marketing and travel expenses.

Golfman said he, as the “operating mind” of PPI, travelled to India 12 times and extensively throughout North America from 2011 to 2014. Other trips included China, France, Spain and Germany.

He claimed as a result of his efforts, he was able to arrange orders for PPI paper in 2014 worth about $1.98 million, a 361 per cent increase from the year before.

The claim also says since 1988, PPI has received $5 million in non-repayable government grants from the provincial and federal governments.

bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca