Alabama box coater wins verdict against IP
Pulp & Paper, Mar 2005
LITIGATION
A former Birmingham, Ala., box company won an $8.9 million judgment in a lawsuit against International Paper Co., according to the attorneys for the plaintiffs, Madison-Oslin.
A jury decided that although IP did not commit fraud, the company did not live up to its agreement to send Madison-Oslin 75 million ft^sup 2^ of linerboard per month for coating, according to an attorney of the Burr & Forman law firm who represented the plaintiff. The agreement was worth $8.5 million over a period of 19 months beginning in January 2002.
Instead, IP allegedly sent about 1% of the 75 million ft^sup 2^ of linerboard to Madison-Oslin, and the Birmingham firm earned about $85,000, he said. By 2003, Madison-Oslin shut down its business and filed a lawsuit in March 2003.
The agreement between Madison-Oslin and IP restricted Madison-Oslin from using the patented coating process for anyone else but IP, the attorney said. IP "wanted to be the only ones with this specially coated linerboard," which was turned into red meat and poultry boxes at IP's box plants. Madison-Oslin "gave the lowest price for the volume" to IP through this exclusivity agreement, counsel added.
Madison-Oslin got the special coating from EvCo Research LLC of Atlanta, which produced the water-repellent material from recycled, plastic soft drink bottles. Unlike conventional, paraffin wax coatings, this material is recyclable.
It is the goal of the owners of Madison-Oslin to reopen the facility, but "they need to figure out if they can get into a business relationship with other companies," the attorney said. The partners currently own two installed coating machines that can together coat about 150 million ft- of linerboard.
- 5 Rules for Immediate Annuities
- Death in the Family: 12 Things to Do Now
- Dumbest Things You Do With Your Money
- 6 Online Networking Mistakes to Avoid
- 401(k) Mistakes to Avoid
- 5 Economic Scenarios to Keep You Up at Night
- The Real ‘Best Places to Retire’
- Best Credit Cards for You
- 12 Tough Questions to Ask Your Parents
- The Real ‘Best Colleges’
- Home Buyer Tax Credit: How to Cash In
- Why You Shouldn't Bash Cash
- 8 Phony 'Bargains' and Better Alternatives
- Danger: 3 Debit Card Scams to Avoid
- 6 Myths About Gas Mileage
- 29 Fees We Hate Most
- Quick and Easy Ways to Boost Returns
- Best Stocks to Buy Now
- Lower Your Taxes: 10 Moves to Make Now
- New Jobs: 8 Lessons from Real-Life Career Switchers
- The New Job Market: Who Wins and Who Loses?
- Health Care Reform's Public Option: Everything You Need to Know
- Volunteer Work When Unemployed: Should You Work for Free?
- Whose Recovery Is This?
- Long-Term-Care Insurance: 4 Biggest Risks to Avoid
Content provided in partnership with
Most Recent Business Articles
- Multiple criteria evaluation and optimization of transportation systems
- Multi-criteria analysis procedure for sustainable mobility evaluation in urban areas
- A two-leveled multi-objective symbiotic evolutionary algorithm for the hub and spoke location problem
- Multi-criteria analysis for evaluating the impacts of intelligent speed adaptation
- The development of Taiwan arterial traffic-adaptive signal control system and its field test: a Taiwan experience
Most Recent Business Publications
Most Popular Business Articles
- 7 tips for effective listening: productive listening does not occur naturally. It requires hard work and practice - Back To Basics - effective listening is a crucial skill for internal auditors
- FAS 109: a primer for non-accountants - Financial Accounting Standards Board's "Statement 109: Accounting for Income Taxes"
- LIFO vs. FIFO: a return to the basics
- Design a commission plan that drives sales - Sales Commissions
- Using object-oriented analysis and design over traditional structured analysis and design
Presented by American Express