MedMen Case Could Be Headed To The Jury

It looks as if the MedMen Enterprises Inc. (OTC: MMNFF)  trial is coming to a close. According to Law360, the lawyers for the company’s former Chief Financial Officer James Parker attorney gave his closing arguments on Tuesday. Parker claims he is owed up to $24.89 million due to his employment contract, while MedMen believes the contract isn’t enforceable because Parker negotiated it himself.

Law360 reported that Michael J. Kump of Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump Holley LLP, who represents Parker suggested the amount could be even higher if the jury decides to award him damages for emotional distress, damage to reputation, and punitive damages on claims that include promissory fraud, retaliation and wrongful discharge in violation of public policy. However, it was noted that the amount could fall down to $16.4 million if the jury chooses a blended average of the stock price in May and June 2018.

The report said that Kump reiterated the issues that brought the case to court to the jurors. This included the toxic workplace environment due to the co-founder Adam Bierman’s language and Parker’s concern that he could face criminal liability for the founder’s actions. In particular, Parker’s allegations that he discovered the company was illegally inflating its stock price by paying a consulting company to buy MedMen’s stock on the Canadian Securities Exchange. “That was a criminal act that he could be potentially liable for,” Kump said.

Also at issue in the trial were the MedMen shares and when Parker could sell them. Law360 said that at trial, jurors were presented with “different scenarios on when Parker could have feasibly sold the shares allegedly owed him because they were not common stock shares, but long-term incentive plan shares, which cannot be sold as quickly.”

The company has fought the allegations and filed counterclaims against Parker for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of duty of loyalty, misappropriation of trade secrets, and conversion. MedMen co-founder Andrew Modlin took the stand and claimed Parker wasn’t equipped for the job and denied the company was planning to fire him, instead he insisted it was going to work with him on improving his job performance.

Parker actually resigned but says he felt he had no other option due to his liability fears. It looks as if MedMen’s attorneys have finished their closing arguments and the case could be going to the jurors as early as this week.

 

 

 

Debra Borchardt

Debra Borchardt is the Co-Founder, and Executive Editor of GMR. She has covered the cannabis industry for several years at Forbes, Seeking Alpha and TheStreet. Prior to becoming a financial journalist, Debra was a Vice President at Bear Stearns where she held a Series 7 and Registered Investment Advisor license. Debra has a Master's degree in Business Journalism from New York University.


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