TORONTO — A former Eastern Ontario crop farmer, who lost his farming and trucking business and his million-dollar lakeside home near Port Perry, has also lost one of his multi-million dollar lawsuits.
Harry Vale, 66, of Durham Region, had it all back in 2010. He owned a fleet of 16 trucks and cropped up to 3,500 acres. He now drives a truck to make ends meet and lives in a rented house in Aurora.
Vale entered into a series of contracts with St. Lawrence Grains starting in 2010 that ended badly as both sides disagreed on the terms. St. Lawrence Grains said it was owed $822,000, while Vale argued that St. Lawrence Grains owed him more than $1 million. A court ordered Vale out of his house to pay his debts in 2016.
Vale filed a lawsuit last year seeking $40 million in damages from St. Lawrence Grains and Farm Supply, a licensed grain elevator at Stouffville, for breach of contract, conspiracy and fraud. But this was Vale’s second kick at the can as he had dismissed his first lawyer who was handling a similar lawsuit. An Ontario court judge dismissed the latest case in December concluding that, after three years, the allegations took too long to get to court, Vale told Farmers Forum.
He declined to discuss his next move. He also has an ongoing lawsuit against his first lawyer for $40 million for breach of contract, negligence and breach of fiduciary duty. None of the allegations have been tested in court.
St. Lawrence Grains’ lawyer Dominique Magisano did not reply to a phone message from Farmers Forum.
