FINANCIALLY-crippled gas-to-liquids, NiQuan Energy, is now saddled with an almost $21 million court-ordered payout to its former vice president for Global Services.
On Friday, Justice Westmin James made the payment orders in favour of David Small, a former independent senator, who left the company in November 2021.
Small was NiQuan’s vice president for Global Services from January 1, 2015. In his lawsuit, Small contended NiQuan breached a mutual settlement agreement and was entitled to a total of $18,575,880.40, representing his salary, accrued vacation, ex-gratia payment and a one-time $12.8 million bonus on the financial close of the World GTL plant.
The judge agreed that NiQuan breached the agreement by failing to fulfill its obligations and also ruled that there was no condition attached which would have prevented the company from keeping with a payment schedule that was agreed to.
“The defendant has not paid any of the payments on the payment schedule which is a fundamental term of the MSA.”
James said while the case involved large sums of money, the principles of law were very simple.
In addition to ordering the payments identified in the agreement, the judge also awarded Small an additional $1.1 million for its “reprehensible” actions and conduct which was “calculated to take advantage of every chance to delay paying or not paying anything at all.”
“The process which was engaged by the defendant in delaying all payments and not making any payment and the excuses were outrageous, high-handed and egregious to the court.
He also pointed out that the evidence also showed that NiQuan agreed to pay US$500,000 to another employee who filed a similar lawsuit in the US courts, “yet failed to accept the claim here.”
“The behaviour, improper motives which fashioned the action undertaken by the defendant and the pure unfairness as well as unequal treatment has to be condemned.
“In light of all the facts, I do think the conduct of the defendant must be punished and a proportionate award of aggravated damages must be made so as to reflect the blameworthiness of the defendant's conduct and to signal that it will not be tolerated or condoned by the court,” the judge said in his ten-page ruling.
In its defence, NiQuan contended Small “always knew” that it would not be able to pay his accrued salary once it had sufficient debt or equity financial or operational revenues after the commercialisation of its GTL plant.
In October last year, NiQuan Energy announced it achieved commercial readiness status for its GTL plant in Pointe-a-Pierre, making it the first commercial small-scale plant of its kind in the world and the first operational plant in the western hemisphere.
Also in defence of Small’s claim, NiQuan contended that payment of the $12.8 million bonus was contingent on the successful close of the bond refinancing which was scheduled to take place in December 2022, once it received it.
It denied there was a breach as the money was not yet due and owing.
The decision said on November 2, 2021
