Tree House Brewing Co. responds to lawsuit from minority shareholder

SPRINGFIELD — The founders of Charlton-based brewery Tree House Brewing Co. requested a jury trial in a December legal statement as they deny the accusations made by a minority owner last year.

In a civil lawsuit, they are accused of hidden real estate deals, forged documents and “excessive” salaries, according to Hampden Superior Court documents.

The company denied the claims made by Eric Granger, the 2% owner of Tree House, who in November filed a lawsuit alleging a pattern of behavior from Tree House’s majority owners, Nathan P. Lanier and Damien L. Goudreau, that caused him and the company financial damage.

The response, issued by William H. Paine, the leading attorney, stated that Granger has received over $850,000 in distributions from Tree House in accordance with his $10,000 investment made in 2012 for Tree House Brewing Company LLC, the original holding company.

The document states that Granger is a non-voting, non-admitted member of the company.

“Tree House denies that Granger or any other shareholder was ever deprived of financial benefit from ownership of Tree House shares,” states the document. “Other than a small passive investment, his contributions to the Company amount to providing some materials used by Tree House to make signs and supplying some decorative tap handles.”

In its response, Tree House claims that the company distributed to Granger more than $250,000 in excess of the amount he needed to pay taxes on income of Tree House, which they rephrase as a 2,500 % return on Granger’s investment.

Tree House claimed it twice offered to purchase Granger’s 2% interest for fair market value but added that Granger demanded more than twice the amount he had been offered to sell his shares.

“Granger’s sworn assertion,” states the document, “that Tree House’s shareholders other than Granger ‘continue to deprive’ him ‘from enjoying any real financial benefit’ from owning his shares is materially false and that a ‘historical refusal to issue dividends to shareholders’ is utterly false.”

In his lawsuit, Granger claims that after making a $13 million real estate investment without his knowledge that includes land in Charlton around Tree House’s main campus and an over $1 million beachfront home next to Tree House’s Sandwich taproom, Lanier and Goudreau directed lease payments for the property from Tree House to Landreau Realty LLC, a subsidiary of the company completely owned by Lanier and Goudreau.

Granger calls the move a “scheme” in his suit, alleging it was done to divert corporate assets away from Tree House, in which he is an investor, and adding that the lease payments “did not serve any business purpose.”

In its December response, Tree House denied the allegation, adding that Landreau LLC paid Tree House more than $2 million more than Tree House paid Landreau.

The document added that the properties are business zoned and were acquired to construct a beer garden.

Lanier and Goudreau founded Tree House in 2011, along with friends Dean Rohan and Jonathan Weisbach.

Data recently released by the company showed that its economic impact across its four Massachusetts locations since opening has contributed $635 million to the economy.

Tree House has announced plans to expand outside New England for the first time since opening on a small farm in Brimfield. Next year, Tree House has plans to open a brewery and taproom in Saratoga Springs, New York.

Tree House denied that the company has refused to disclose to Granger information to which he is entitled, insisting that on the contrary, “Tree House has provided Granger with access to highly confidential, propriety, and competitively sensitive information regarding the Company’s operations, finances, financial performance, business plans, and more.”

Referring to Granger’s other accusations, Tree House said that as employees of Tree House, Lanier, Goudreau and another minority investor were paid salaries and bonuses.

“Lanier and Goudreau,” states the document, “have for more than a decade worked day and night, on weekdays and weekends and holidays to make Tree House a success.

“Granger is a passive investor who has never been employed by Tree House.”

In his lawsuit, Granger also accuses the company of using an old background check he filed in 2017 through the Criminal Offender Registry Information, or CORI, system, to apply for a liquor license for its Deerfield site.

Before beginning a new background check, Granger claimed in his lawsuit that he sought more information from Tree House about the Deerfield location, but Tree House didn’t respond and instead “unilaterally and without permission changed the ‘location address’” on Granger’s 2017 form.

Tree House denied the allegation, adding that Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, or ABCC, closed its investigation into Granger’s complaint with no decision finding wrongdoing.

Regarding Granger’s accusations of Lanier's and Goudreau's luxurious expenses, the response states that two Tesla Model 3 vehicles are made available to all company employees to facilitate employees’ frequent need to commute between locations and a used 2016 Ranger Rover Sport, a 2021 Mercedes GLC300 and a 2020 Audi Q8 were among the vehicles issued to Rohan and Goudreau due to their frequent business travel over time.

Tree House has denied that Granger is entitled to any remedy or relief in response to Granger’s seeking damages and a full accounting of Tree House’s money and property that has gone through Lanier and Goudreau.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Co-founders of Tree House Brewing Co. deny lawsuit claims