U.S. Silica Holdings Inc. announced a decisive jury verdict in a trial in State District Court in Harris County, Texas, against Arrows Up LLC, an affiliate of OmniTRAX Inc., a Broe Group portfolio company.
The jury returned a unanimous verdict in favor of Sandbox Logistics, a wholly-owned subsidiary of U.S. Silica, on all 12 issues presented in the lawsuit.
The jury found that Arrows Up breached a 2014 confidentiality and non-disclosure agreement with Sandbox. It also found that Arrows Up and its founder and CEO John Allegretti, personally, breached a 2015 settlement agreement with Sandbox and committed fraud against Sandbox.
While the final amount of damages has not yet been confirmed by the trial court, the jury awarded monetary damages to Sandbox totaling more than $43 million.
U.S. Silica President and CEO Bryan Shinn commented, ”We are pleased with the jury verdict. It underscores the inherent value of Sandbox and serves notice to others who have misappropriated our intellectual property that we will vigorously defend ourselves. We are poised for continued, sustainable growth in this exciting market segment and with over 50 issued U.S. patents, we are the clear leader in last mile containerized proppant delivery solutions.”
Shinn added that U.S. Silica intends to seek additional relief to protect the rights of Sandbox.