Pemberton Energy Ltd. has filed a defamation lawsuit against Simon Verduyn, an Alberta man who criticized the company in forum postings on Stockhouse and suggested that its president, Richard Saxon, misappropriated money. Pemberton filed the case in B.C. Supreme Court on July 21, 2008, complaining about 28 postings made under the alias "tinman50."
by Mike CaswellThe company says those postings were made by Mr. Verduyn. In them, he allegedly suggested that company was incompetent because it had taken three years to begin drilling an oil and gas project in Alberta. He also said that Mr. Saxon was "watching peelers" while the stock price slid, and that the company was wasting time and money.
The postings occurred before the stock went to a 62-cent high on March 10, 2008, and as it declined to a 24.5-cent low on April 14. The poster claimed to own 740,000 of the company's shares. Most of the posts happened after Feb. 20, when the company issued a two-sentence news release saying it had completed preliminary work on its 10-15-82-3W6M well in Alberta.
One from Feb. 24, 2008, read: "I have talked to Richard and his puppet on several occasions. The first time I tried to find out some information about the company and I told them how many shares I owned and was told I was a lying so and so. I then told them I would put my shares up for sale the next day. The next day came, Richard phoned me to apologize and pleaded to me to remove the large block. I did and he was very grateful. To me we should be informed as to what the problems are with the rig this time, so I phoned SS and asked him about it today but he was extremely rude again. A question for all stock holders, are these the kind of people we want running this company?"
Another was on March 31, when tinman50 allegedly stated: "Are we going to get [the rig] in before the SP is at a dime? RS this is no time to be sitting in Vancouver watching peelers, best get things going before we have a foot of mud on the lease!!!"
An April 18 post allegedly read: "For the new invester, if you are going to invest here you might as well throw your money in the toilet you'll get to see your money a little longer, providing you have to flush more than once."
On April 21, he allegedly stated: "When are we going to have the next shareholders meeting. We might have to have it in Vancouver so the Saxons can't run away on us. But I suppose he could always say the cabbie wouldn't let him in the cab, lets try to get your sh_t together boys, no one even wants this crap anymore. But you did good today we only lost 1 cent not 3 or 4."
Then on April 22, he allegedly stated: "These are the first holes the Saxons have ever drilled, not bad only 2 to 3 years to get this far. What is it going to take to complete them, another 3 years. If they do have 600k what is he waiting for does someone have to put the seat down and hold his hand to get his next big job done? SP tells the story here. I don't think you should use the word 'experts' so loosely on this board."
Another post on April 28 allegedly stated: "I have been trying to get info for about 4 weeks. Good luck getting any info on anything here, we probably have two duds or four if you count the Saxon's. For all we know they took the left over 600k and bolted. Just my opinion."
The company complains that the words mean Mr. Saxon is incompetent and needs to be replaced, that he is unable to manage a drilling project, that he is stealing company resources, and unless he is replaced no one will invest in Pemberton, among other things.
Pemberton claims that Mr. Verduyn is motivated by malice, and that he has deprived the company of opportunities to earn income.
In addition to seeking general and aggravated damages, the company is seeking punitive damages on the grounds that Mr. Verduyn deliberately published the words and that he knew what he was doing was wrong. The company also says there is a need to deter "irresponsible, self-interested, malicious postings."
Pemberton is represented by Vancouver lawyer Wade Simpson.
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