Local business near settlement in federal lawsuit
A local Libby business expects to reach a settlement with a Virginia company, which filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Libby business last December, within the next week.
Createk, an artificial boulder manufacturer in Virginia, filed a lawsuit in December seeking $1.2 million from Wildlife Recapture Taxidermy of Libby, claiming that the taxidermy failed to pay the $273,075 agreed upon in the contract between to the two companies. Recapture contracted Createk to manufacture artificial boulders for the Libby taxidermy, which would in turn sell those boulders to several Dick’s Sporting Goods stores around the country.
Mel Siefke, one of the owners of Wildlife Recapture Taxidermy, said that Createk was unable to fulfill Recapture’s requested number of boulders, so his company began manufacturing the remaining boulders themselves to fill the order with Dick’s Sporting Goods. Createk claimed that as stated in the contract, Recapture owed Createk the revenues from those boulders, regardless of who built them.
After six months and 47 motions filed between the two parties, Siefke said he expects Createk to sign the agreement within the next week. While he could not specify the amount Recapture will pay to Createk, he did say Recapture would pay less than $200,000; less than the payment agreed to in the initial contract, and about a $1 million less than Createk sought in federal court.
“With the amount I’m spending on lawyers, it’s better to pay that little amount and be done with it,” Siefke said.
Siefke said Recapture has been in business with Createk for four years. After the agreement is signed, he hopes to move forward with his business, looking toward future expansions and adding 20 more jobs to his operation.
“It’s a closed deal. I’m just moving past it,” he said. “They just need to sign a paper. That’s all they have to do.”
Createk and it’s parent company, Evolve Custom, LLC, did not respond to calls for comment made by The Western News.
Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at slarson@dailyinterlake.com.