HONOLULU, May 30, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On May 10, 2019, the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii confirmed an arbitration award that ordered Streamline Consulting Group LLC (“SCG”) to pay Hawaiian Legacy Hardwoods LLC (“HLH”) and five other parties $273,930.14
The case brought forward by SCG owner and principal Tiffany McCormick Potter of 1629 K Street, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20006 and was heard in October 2018 and the Final Award of Arbitration issued on November 28, 2018.
“The findings and awards made by the arbitrator in this case were based upon both the extensive testimony heard and the many exhibits introduced during the five days of hearings and arguments in this matter,” said Jerry M. Hiatt, Arbitrator in this case. The Arbitrator was thus required to weigh the parties’ respective credibility on the issues. The Arbitrator did so and found that Potter was particularly incredible on the issue of whether the NC [Non-circumvention Agreement] fee could be applied to her work under the SA [Services Agreement]. "Her credibility was directly undermined by her own communications, including Exhibit 21 and the history of her dealings with the Respondents,” Hiatt concluded.
The arbitrator further found that the success of the carbon certification was obtained not through Potter’s work, but the work of others stating, “Whether and in what amount Streamline would have ever obtained those credits is speculative, given its failure to do so while involved in the work, and its refusal, despite requests, to provide a budget for completing the work.”
The arbitrator also stated, “Streamline’s work was so incomplete at the time of termination that it was not the legal cause of the certification of carbon credits by [The Gold Standard] which was ultimately obtained through the work of others.”
The arbitrator also found deficiencies in SCG’s work product which had to be redone at significant cost to Legacy Carbon. In addition, he concluded that SCG had erred in the calculation of the amount of carbon credits projected to be generated for Legacy Carbon. Dunster stated, “SCG’s projections of carbon credits were in fact, more than double the actual amount confirmed by The Gold Standard. In addition, SCG grossly underestimated the time and costs associated with the certification process.”
When SCG was terminated in August 2014, Potter sent emails threatening to notify The Gold Standard and others that the entire project was terminated. The arbitrator stated, “Termination of the project was of course, not Ms. Potter’s decision to make. The statement that she was going to notify others to that effect was highly inappropriate.”
HLH LLC CEO Jeffrey Dunster stated, “Unfortunately, some people in business choose to weaponize the legal system and use it as a bargaining chip rather than as a tool for legitimate conflict resolution. In today’s economic climate, it has become more expedient to pay off frivolous claims than to fight them and risk huge legal costs and the inevitable negative press which follows. HLH however is a B Corporation and part of our pledge as a B Corporation is our responsibility to our community and not just ourselves. If we didn’t fix this, we would just be passing the problem on to someone else and that is not who we are as a company.”