Smart Sand Inc. announced that the Superior Court of the State of Delaware issued a verdict in favor of the company in its lawsuit against U.S. Well Services, LLC, a subsidiary of U.S. Well Services Inc., following the trial that took place in December 2020.
In the case, Smart Sand alleged, along with certain other related claims, that U.S. Well breached a multi-year contract under which Smart Sand supplied frac sand to U.S. Well, and claimed total damages of approximately $54 million. U.S. Well denied that it breached the contract and asserted counterclaims for the misuse of U.S. Well’s confidential information. U.S. Well abandoned its counterclaims after the trial.
The court ruled that U.S. Well breached the long-term take-or-pay Master Product Purchase Agreement between the company and U.S. Well by failing to purchase minimum required tonnages of frac sand.
The court directed the parties to submit a form of final judgment in favor of Smart Sand and against U.S. Well, which we expect will become publicly available by the end of June 2021.
Charles Young, chief executive officer of the company, commented, “We are extremely pleased with the court’s ruling that U.S. Well breached the PPA we negotiated together.” Young added that, “while we did not seek this fight, we battled to successfully vindicate our contractual rights once U.S. Well stopped performing its end of the bargain and then refused to pay us for amounts due under our agreement. We will continue to pursue our rights to maximize our recovery under this verdict.”