— The founder and president of New Glarus Brewing Company says she can “breathe a sigh of relief” after an appeals court upheld an earlier decision dismissing an investor lawsuit against the business.
In an interview yesterday, Deb Carey described the two-year legal battle as a “long and kind of heartbreaking journey” that has cost her millions of dollars.
Plaintiff shareholders Karin Eichhoff, Steven Speer and Roderick Runyan filed a lawsuit against Carey and the company in March 2022 alleging “minority shareholder oppression” and securities fraud, according to court documents. Among other claims, the plaintiffs argued Carey and the brewery “misrepresented” or didn’t disclose information on the value of their shares, denying them the opportunity to obtain “fair value” in selling them, the documents show.
The plaintiffs sought an order requiring Carey and the brewery to purchase their shares at “fair value,” independent directors to be appointed for the business and all non-voting shares in the company be reclassified as voting shares.
But the appeals court last week concluded Green County Judge Faun Phillipson “properly dismissed” the lawsuit, which Carey argues was a form of harassment.
“The knife over our head was, you know, were they going to find something where they could bully me into selling, or leaving? … This was a long fight,” she said. “And now we can all breathe a sigh of relief that all of those ideas that they had, that they were going to get more money, have been shot down. And life will move on.”
In an emailed statement on the decision, Speer said he is “shocked and disappointed that the frustrations we brought to the court as minority owners” weren’t seen as shareholder oppression.
“In my reading of the opinion, it seems the judges decided, among other things, that as a minority owner I could have no reasonable business expectation of ever participating in the profits of the corporation no matter how profitable it is or how much undistributed profit simply sitting in cash is accumulated by the business,” he said.
Neither of the other plaintiffs or the law firm representing them, Middleton-based Palmersheim Dettmann, responded to requests for comment on the appeals court’s decision.
Carey argues some of the plaintiffs’ claims were “painfully absurd,” such as accusing her of stealing from the company’s Only In Wisconsin Giving charity program.
“Charity tax returns are very public, and so again, super easy to prove that the charity is set up and employees are running it and I’m really not involved at all,” she said. “And I certainly am not taking any money. But what a hideous thing to say, you know? It just is, everything about this I think was meant to inflict pain.”
See the New Glarus release and the appeals court decision, and see more on the lawsuit in Top Stories below.
— Lawmakers recently circulated a bill that would require the Universities of Wisconsin to request funding in the 2025-27 budget to study the impact of wake boats on lake bottoms, fish nesting, aquatic vegetation and sediment disruption.
The legislation comes after an advocacy group called Lakes at Stake Wisconsin launched last year, seeking regulations on “wake enhanced” boating on most lakes in the state.
The group, which is made up of property owners, anglers, conservationists and others, argues the large waves created by these craft are harming lakefront property values and the state’s tourism industry.
In a release last week, the organization called on lawmakers to support the wake boat research legislation, which would direct the Universities of Wisconsin to include a state-sponsored wakeboat study in its 2025-27 biennial budget request.
The group’s president, Paul Gardetto, in a statement applauded bill authors Sen. Mary Felzkowski, R-Tomahawk, and Rep. Rob Swearingen, R-Rhinelander, for introducing the legislation.
“We also urge legislators to introduce temporary protections while the study is underway,” Gardetto said. “Two years is too long to wait for reform while our state’s most precious treasures are being ravaged by damaging, enhanced wakes.”
Under the bill, the UW study would focus on the impact of wake-enhanced boating on lake bottoms, fish nesting, aquatic vegetation and sediment, as well as comparing the energy of these waves with those created by wind and storms, according to a co-sponsorship memo.
The lawmakers note wakeboat regulations are “a very contentious issue” in Wisconsin and the UW research would provide a “full, unbiased picture” of how the wake-enhanced operation of these craft is impacting the state’s waterways.
See the memo.
See an earlier story on the Lakes at Stake Wisconsin effort.
— Sen. Rob Cowles canceled a public hearing that had been planned for yesterday on the controversial right of first refusal bill that would give existing utilities priority to decide if they want to construct, own and maintain new transmission lines.
The measure cleared the Assembly earlier this month in a voice vote, but more than a dozen Republicans asked to be registered as “no” votes in the final roll call. Some have argued it would bring continued stability to Wisconsin’s transmission system, while others believe it would stifle competition and lead to higher costs for ratepayers.
Cowles, R-Green Bay, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The decision to cancel the hearing comes after other opponents have sought to undercut the chances the bill will clear the Senate.
Senate President Chris Kapenga, R-Delafield, last week referred the Assembly version of the bill to Cowles’ committee. Typically, Assembly bills go to the Senate Org to be considered for the calendar, and pulling a bill out of a committee requires a two-thirds vote of the chamber.
Senate rules also bar a motion to withdraw a bill from committee during the seven days preceding a scheduled committee meeting on the proposal or in the seven days after.
The Senate was on the floor Tuesday last week and is expected back on the floor until the week of March 12-14.
With the Assembly not expected back on the floor the rest of this session, proponents would have to pass that chamber’s version of the bill for the proposal to be sent to Gov. Tony Evers.
— Dem lawmakers are seeking co-sponsors for legislation that would provide state matching grants to counties for care provider workforce investments.
Rep. Mike Bare, D-Verona, and Sen. Diane Hesselbein, D-Middleton, recently sent a co-sponsorship memo on the bill to other lawmakers. It references a trauma recovery program created by Dane County officials with $621,000 in funding, aimed at supporting recruitment, retention, and overall well being of public health workers and frontline care providers in the county.
The lawmakers say their bill would help other counties create similar programs.
Under the bill, the state Department of Health Services would award grants to every Wisconsin county to match local investments made during the previous fiscal year in “the recruitment, retention, mental health, trauma care and prevention, or wellness” of the county’s health care, public health, child care and long-term care workforce.
Individual grants would be limited to $1.11 multiplied by the county’s population, according to an analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau. Using Dane County as an example, that amount would be about $626,000, based on U.S. Census data from 2021.
The co-sponsorship deadline is 5 p.m. today.
See the memo.
For more of the most relevant health care news, reports on groundbreaking research in Wisconsin, links to top stories and more, sign up today for the free daily Health Care Report from WisPolitics and WisBusiness.com.
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TOP STORIES
Appeals court upholds dismissal of investor lawsuit against New Glarus Brewing
Wisconsin inches closer to high-speed EV charging stations
How De Pere’s purchase of a South Broadway building rippled through downtown businesses
TOPICS
AGRIBUSINESS
– WI soybeans – Rock county leads at 5.05M bushels
CONSTRUCTION
– Building Blocks: Corporate Contractors renovates Village Supper Club in Delavan
– The staying power of mid-century modern design, according to a Madison architect
ECONOMY
– Sports events, conventions could bring big bucks to Green Bay in 2024
ENVIRONMENT
– Billions of cicadas in the Midwest this spring will be ‘a really weird phenomenon’
– Wildfire season in Wisconsin has started amid unseasonably warm winter
– Assembly OKs bill to suspend doe hunting in northern Wisconsin in attempt to regrow herd
LABOR
– Generac Power System’s yearlong staffing ‘adjustments’ result in 900 fewer jobs
– Harley-Davidson begins first union talks in Milwaukee area under CEO Jochen Zeitz
LEGAL
MANUFACTURING
– Modine to buy Canadian manufacturer of air handling units
POLITICS
– Why the Alabama IVF turmoil is not likely to happen in Wisconsin
REAL ESTATE
– Physicians Realty Trust’s merger to more than double its Third Ward jobs count
RETAIL
– West Allis candy company to replace Kehr’s at Milwaukee Public Market
SPORTS
– Wisconsin teen takes 2nd place in Junior Iditarod
– ‘More ways to entertain the fan’: Why the Brewers installed a new scoreboard
TOURISM
– Two northern Wisconsin projects sought $1M in boating grants. Only one got the money.
– Wisconsin Assembly approves increases in out-of-state outdoor license fees to help close deficit
TRANSPORTATION
– Waukesha County unveils Moorland Road project with more lanes
PRESS RELEASES
See these and other press releases
Precision Plus: Awarded Wisconsin Manufacturer of the Year 2023