Moosehead Breweries is suing the City of Saint John to recover costs associated with modifying its operations to treat municipal water from a new well that doesn’t have enough capacity.
The claim to recover costs of more than $1.6 million was filed in the Court of Queen’s Bench on Thursday afternoon.
The company says it was ordered to take its production water from the new South Bay Wellfield despite numerous requests to use lake-source water from east Saint John instead.
Moosehead said it repeatedly told the city that the wellfield water was not compatible with its brewing equipment and processes and that significant funds would be required to modify the brewing operation, but the city turned down those requests.
After making the investments, Moosehead said the city reversed its decision last March and told them they would be getting water from east Saint John as originally requested.
In July, Saint John council was told several west side communities would be transitioned from the wellfield to the Loch Lomond drinking water facility on the east side due to lower-than-expected water levels.
The company said its claim alleges misrepresentations and negligence on the part of the city regarding a failed well-water transition strategy.
Patrick Oland, Moosehead’s chief financial officer, said the company is disappointed it had to resort to legal action, but the city’s actions left it no choice.
“We were forced to spend money earmarked for other important programs while our pleas to the city went unheeded,” he said. “It is now clear that the money the city forced us to spend is wasted because the new well system is a failure.”
After a request for comment from our newsroom, the city said it is aware of the claim and has shared it with its insurers.
The city said it expects the insurers to defend the claim and appoint legal counsel shortly.
Moosehead said it will not be providing any further comment since this is a legal matter.
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