Bruce claims win over Tiger Truck on lawsuit
By JIMMY GALVAN Editor

Tiger Truck finally did infuse some money into Jasper County's economy.

On April 24, District Judge Joe Bob Golden ruled that Tiger Truck must pay Mike Bruce, owner of Bruce's Pulp and Paper, LLC, more than $313,000 in damages due to the failed sale for the proposed plant in Jasper.

"We are very pleased with the judge's decision," said attorney John Seale. ""The original contract was for $4.2 million but there was no way we could recover that amount. What we were suing for was for the damages that Mike Bruce had sustained as a result of the promises by Tiger Truck to purchase the property."

According to the judgment of the court, Tiger Truck must pay Bruce's Paper and Pulp, LLC $313,000, plus attorney's fees in the amount of $32,000 through the trial court proceedings plus an additional $8,000 attorney's fees in the event of an appeal to the Court of Appeals, plus an additional $8,000 attorney's fees in the event of a petition for review being filed in the Supreme Court of Texas.

The judgment states "all appellate attorney's fees will bear interest from the date of this judgment at the rate of six percent per annum."

The lawsuit was filed Oct. 10, 2007 and originally asked for $4.25 million, the original asking price for the property.

Seale said he expects Tiger Truck's attorney's Brian F. Antweil and Jacob T. Fain of Haynes and Boone to appeal the decision.

Antweil was not available for comment and a spokesperson for Haynes and Boone said it is not known whether the case will be appealed.

Seale said that on Wednesday, April 30, he had received a motion given to Golden to show findings of fact and conclusions on the case.

"We don't know if they are going to go all the way through on an appeal but they have taken the first step," Seale said. "I wouldn't be surprised if they appealed. I don't think they are very happy with the result."

If the case is appealed, it will be filed with the Court of Appeals in Beaumont and from then the Supreme Court of Texas.

Seale said that originally Tiger Truck had put up $50,000 in escrow for the sale and an agreement was made to take out machinery at the plant site and sell it and place all the proceeds into the escrow account.

Seale said that more than $170,000 was in escrow at the time the deal was terminated.

"Tiger Truck contended that they didn't breech the contract but we believe a lot of machinery at the plant was destroyed by their workers at the plant," Seale said.

According to the lawsuit, after Bruce and Ward entered into agreement for the former LP sawmill for $4.25 million, Tiger Truck entered the premises "and proceed with work consisting of numerous changes in the buildings on the property in order to make them adapted to the desires of the defendant for placing a business therein. In order to do this, Bruce had to remove tenants from the property and allow Ward exclusive use thereof."

Tiger Truck's attorneys contended that environmental problems caused the sale of the property to be terminated.

"We informed the court that all the environmental problems had been met and were satisfactory and different regulatory agencies had given Tiger Truck a passing grade on the property," Seale said.

Seale said he believes Tiger Truck lost their funding for the project and that is the reason they pulled out of the deal.

"They suddenly decided to not go any further on the project," Seale said. "They had been out there removing machinery from the plant and changing it into scrap iron and then the next day they were all gone."

In June of 2007, Ward informed Jasper officials of his intention of breaking off the deal with Bruce and soon thereafter moved the plant's location to Poteau, Oklahoma.

"The real reason behind their pullout was they didn't get the funding from the parent company in China," Seale said.

Aspokeperson said Tiger Truck CEO Michael S. Ward had no comment on the lawsuit.