Wind energy enterprise is embroiled in litigation

An international wind energy enterprise with links to Clarkston, Oregon and Ireland has gone sour, resulting in four pieces of litigation, including one filed recently in Asotin County Superior Court.

The goal of the complaint filed in Asotin County Superior Court is to figure out how to allocate assets and liabilities of AirDynamics, a company formed by John Laney and David Richards of Asotin County, according to attorneys on both sides of the litigation.

At one time, Laney and Richards were hoping to be an important part of the country's shift to green sources of electricity as they leveraged their decades of experience in construction in the emerging field.

"The most significant factor in the demise of the business relationships that were subject to litigation was no lack of goodwill on anyone's part, but more a change in the economics of that industry," said Timothy Esser, the Pullman attorney representing Richards, Laney and AirDynamics.

The complaint was filed against Fred Cramer, who gained a one-third interest in AirDynamics in exchange for leases for potential wind energy projects and other information he had developed through his own Oregon company, Northwest Renewable Resources, according to the complaint.

AirDynamics also owed Cramer $300,000 for the leases, said Cramer's attorney, Paul George of Portland, Ore., who denied the allegations in the complaint on behalf of his client.

The complaint provides one version of how the relationship between Cramer, Laney, Richards and an Irish company unfolded. Judge Ray Lutes signed an order to seal two pages of the complaint after an attorney for AirDynamics stated it contained information subject to a confidentiality settlement.

AirDynamics went into a joint venture involving Gaelectric Holdings, an Irish company with experience developing wind energy projects.

When they did so, they used assets transferred to AirDynamics by Cramer, according to the complaint. Laney and Richards served as executive officers of a company called Gaelectric Northwest for about 18 months. During that time, $250,000 was transferred to AirDynamics from the Irish entities, according to the complaint.

Laney, Richards and Cramer each received $60,000, while the remaining $70,000 was spent by AirDynamics "in pursuit of additional opportunities for AirDynamics and through advancement to Gaelectric Northwest," according to the complaint.

The arrangement, however, didn't work and in the summer of 2009 Gaelectric Northwest terminated Laney's and Richards' employment, according to the complaint.

"The basis alleged was that Laney and Richards had not diligently performed their duties," the complaint reads. "While their contracts of employment allowed them to pursue other projects solely for the benefit of AirDynamics, which they did, the employer was not satisfied with their performance on behalf of the joint venture."

The conflict has wound through three other courts, including Spokane County Superior Court, where a case involves allegations about the performance of Laney and Richards, and Whitman County Superior Court, where Laney and Richards filed a suit alleging defamation against Gaelectric Northwest and two individuals, according to the complaint.

Esser and Michael Franklin, a Spokane attorney who represents Gaelectric Northwest, said those two cases have been resolved. But paperwork documenting the status hadn't been filed as of Thursday, according to court clerks.

The confidential resolutions are on terms mutually satisfactory to those involved and include dismissing all allegations, said Franklin and Esser.

An issue in the fourth lawsuit was a landowner in one of Cramer's leases who alleged he only intended to lease a "small portion" of his property, according to the complaint.

But a legal description attached to the lease had all his property "contrary to the statements and representations made by Cramer to AirDynamics," according to the complaint.

Laney and Richards were the ones who attached the legal description in question to the lease, George said.

What financial impact, if any, that had on the dealings of AirDynamics and Gaelectric Northwest is among the issues the court may address in the Asotin County case, Esser said. George expects to file a response to the Asotin County case within 30 days.

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Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.