A class action lawsuit was filed in Federal Court in West Palm Beach, Florida on behalf of the employee shareholders and other shareholders of the U.S. Sugar Corporation. U.S. Sugar, headquartered in Clewiston, Florida, is a major producer of sugar and orange juice, and has always been associated with the powerful Mott family, the heirs of the Company’s founder, industrialist C.S. Mott. A large percentage of U.S. Sugar is owned by its own employees, farm field workers, union mill workers, administrative staff and others, who own their shares through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).

The lawsuit alleges that U.S. Sugar’s Chairman William S. White,  their son Ridgway White, CEO Robert Buker, the Board of Directors of U.S. Sugar and others, took steps wrongfully to deprive the many shareholders of U.S. Sugar of the chance to sell their shares when the Company received a very valuable outside offer to purchase the Company for $575 million dollars or $293 per share. This offer was 51% higher than the price per share the Company was paying its own employees for shares. Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that the prior CEO of U.S. Sugar struck a deal to sell the Company at this price back in August 2005. However, White and Buker subsequently took control of the deal. Accepting the offer, the lawsuit alleges, would have taken U.S. Sugar away from the Mott family and from the control of Claire Mott White and William S. White. Instead of giving the shareholders the chance to sell their shares in response to the valuable offer, the lawsuit claims, the Defendants kept the offer from them. This would have been the only opportunity in decades for the shareholders of U.S. Sugar to sell their shares to a third party.

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If you have any questions regarding this lawsuit, you may contact attorney Curtis Miner at (305) 476-7400 or curt@colson.com
 

Lewis S. Eidson, Esq.
Roberto Martinez, Esq.
Curtis Miner, Esq.
COLSON HICKS EIDSON
255 Aragon Avenue
Coral Gables FL 33133
(305) 476-7400 OFFICE
(305) 476-7444 FAX
Curt@Colson.com