A family feud erupted when a long-time family farming operation spanning Alberta and Saskatchewan went sour. The dispute that led two brothers to make threats against each other's lives, and against the lives of their respective children, was settled this month in Court of Queen's Bench in Red Deer.

In 1978, Larry Beechinor and his wife Linda incorporated a farming operation, L&L Beechinor Acres Ltd., and were joined by Larry's brother Barney. L&L began operations, including buying and leasing land in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

In 1984, Larry and Linda and their four children moved to Saskatchewan and became responsible for operations in that province. Barney, his wife Melody and their four children stayed in Alberta, taking responsibility for local operations and diversifying from grain to cattle.

Revenue from both operations went into a single account, and according to court documents, both families agreed that "each family would be entitled to take out whatever funds it needed to live and the remaining funds would be left in the company."

By 1998-1999, L&L began to experience losses. According to court documents, Barney approached Larry, expressing concern over the effort Larry and Linda had put into the business and the amount of money they had taken out of the account. (Larry and Linda had purportedly used the money to purchase vehicles for their children, to pay their children's university tuition and to buy a satellite dish.)

The brothers and their spouses agreed Barney would buy out Larry and Linda's share, paying the couple around $305,000. The group signed the documents in the presence of a lawyer and agreed to sign more formal documents once they were drafted.

Later that month, say the court documents, Larry contacted Barney and indicated he and Linda would not honour the agreements they had signed. From then on, Larry and Linda continued to use the money in the L&L account as their own.

In 2001, the court removed Larry and Linda as directors of the company, and Barney and L&L sued for damages. Larry and Linda countersued, claiming the agreement they signed was simply an "agreement to agree," not a binding sale agreement.

This month, the court found the sale agreement signed in 2000 was binding and enforceable. Justice E. F. Macklin found Barney did not make material misrepresentations to Larry and Linda as the couple claimed, and that because Larry and Linda drafted the agreement documents they cannot argue the documents were unclear. The judge also found that Barney has lived up to all conditions of the sale agreement.

As a result, Barney has been instructed to pay Larry and Linda around $189,000 (instead of the $305,000 originally agreed upon) and Barney becomes sole owner of L&L. Larry and Linda's counterclaim was dismissed.

WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY

An Alberta man recently lost his breach-of-agreement case against a Manitoba-based window manufacturer in Court of Queen's Bench in Edmonton.

Hugh Dantzer alleged he made a verbal agreement with C.P. Loewen Enterprises Ltd. (doing business as Loewen Windows), to compensate him if he would facilitate a relationship between Loewen and a Japanese company.

Dantzer had become acquainted with two contacts at Housing Yamachi of Japan through his involvement with Alta-Therm Industries, an Alberta-based fibreglass-framed window manufacturer. By 1993, Yamachi was the exclusive distributor of Alta-Therm windows in northern Japan. Yamachi asked Dantzer to research the possibility of obtaining wood-framed windows in Canada, and Dantzer agreed, ultimately recommending Loewen.

In court documents, Dantzer claimed that Richard Baerg, the Loewen Edmonton branch manager, told him: "If you bring this client to our place and we do business eventually, I can assure you that Loewen Windows will look after you. You will not be doing this for nothing."

There is no official record of the conversation, and Loewen denies ever making such an agreement.

Loewen eventually did deals with Yamachi, while Dantzer acted as middleman and received a 10-per-cent markup fee from Yamachi.

By 1994, Loewen and Yamachi were negotiating to deal directly on big orders, instead of through Dantzer.

Dantzer approached the courts for payment from Loewen, as per the alleged verbal agreement. In a judgment released this month, the court found no evidence of the agreement, and that Loewen was not unjustly enriched by the relationship with Yamachi.

Dantzer's claims against the company were dismissed.

(Cases taken from recent Alberta court judgment records. Nicole Strandlund can be reached at nicole@businessedge.ca)