Jury awards $1M to Kate's Homemade Butter
A jury has awarded more than $1 million in damages to to the owners of Kate’s Homemade Butter, a well-known butter producer now based in Arundel, in its lawsuit against a Rhode Island company.
The York County Superior Court jury returned the verdict on Tuesday, according to the lawyer representing Kate’s Homemade Butter, Timothy J. Bryant of Portland law firm Preti Flaherty.
The butter producer’s owners, Dan and Karen Patry of Old Orchard Beach, filed a lawsuit against Branch River Plastics in December 2012, accusing the company of installing faulty roof panels at their new facility in Arundel. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Arundel Valley LLC, a company run by the Patrys that leases the facility to Kate’s Homemade Butter.
The $1 million in damages will cover the costs associated with replacing the facility’s faulty roof panels, according to Bryant. The Patrys had discovered that the facility’s previous roof panels, which were installed by Branch River Plastics, were defective. After facing public pressure to move business operations out of their Old Orchard Beach home, the couple decided the replace the roof panels to ensure that operations would continue.
“We are relieved and grateful to the jurors for their decision. This dispute made the journey to transition our business to Arundel a long and difficult process. This award will help us start to make up for what it cost us to repair the roof panels and help us move our business forward,” Dan Patry said in a prepared statement. “We are happy this has been made right so we can get back to focusing on what we love to do — making butter and buttermilk.”
The lawsuit had accused Branch River Plastics of providing the Patrys a generic brand of roof panels that were defective and did not meet certain building code regulations. The lawsuit said the Patrys were led to believe they were being sold a specific brand of high-quality roof panel that would meet or exceed all building codes.
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