We have assisted BlueTarp Financial Inc., a leading provider of credit and transaction information services to the building materials industry, with numerous rounds of capital raising, including a $15 million Series D Convertible Preferred Stock issuance led by Long Ridge Equity Partners and including existing investors Trinity Ventures, Highland Capital Partners and Flybridge Capital Partners. This was paired with an expansion of its senior secured working capital line of credit. We have also assisted BlueTarp with their related technology and retail financial regulatory needs.

In a dispute involving a 17-year business relationship between companies in the plastic film industry, firm attorneys prevailed at trial and on appeal in this breach-of-contract case. When a firm client suspected it was being shortchanged by its materials supplier, the future of their small family business was at stake. Pierce Atwood stepped in and helped convince a jury in Rhode Island federal court to award $2 million in lost profits to our client and ensure that the 17-year contract would remain in force. The award and the contract helped ensure the future of this small business.

In a property tax refund case filed on behalf of the largest hotel in Rhode Island, we obtained a judgment for $2.44 million, plus interest, in December 2017 following a trial. The judgment represented the amount of excess property taxes paid by the hotel during 2013-2015 as a result of an inflated assessment of the hotel’s value.

We assisted Sprague Operating Resources with the $22 million acquisition of the natural gas marketing and electricity brokerage business assets of Metromedia Gas & Power, Inc. and its subsidiaries.

On behalf of our client, the Markley Group, we successfully negotiated a $240 million syndicated bank financing package with TD Bank. Markley Group is New England's largest and longest operating multi-tenant, mission-critical telecommunications and data center facility.

We represented ND OTM LLC, a subsidiary of ND Paper, in a $30 million new markets tax credit financing that will be used to finance the restart of a pulp mill located in Old Town, Maine.  The mill was shuttered in 2015, and the restarting of the mill will result in approximately 130 new direct jobs, and hundreds of indirect jobs in the forest products industry. 

We secured a favorable resolution for technology corporation in a tax dispute with the Massachusetts Department of Revenue. The appeal was settled two weeks before trial, saving the client in excess of $30 million of assessed sales and use tax, interest, and penalties. The Department of Revenue’s assessment was a result of our client’s failure to document or demonstrate, during a multi-year audit, that tax had been paid or that the transactions at issue were tax exempt. Working with the client, we retrieved archived documentation, located in-house and third party witnesses, and leveraged strong relationships with department attorneys to achieve a successful outcome.

We successfully tried a NASDAQ-listed company's claims against an ASIC developer who had contracted to develop the client's next generation product. The 14 person jury returned a unanimous verdict in favor of our client for $36.7 million in damages, which is believed to be the largest verdict ever from a state court jury in Massachusetts. The jury also returned a verdict for the client rejecting the developer's approximately $7 million in counterclaims.

Pierce Atwood served as lead counsel to Casella Waste Systems in its $47 million acquisition of waste disposal assets in western Massachusetts and Albany, New York from publicly traded Republic Waste and its affiliates.

Represented New England Mountain Ventures, a Massachusetts private equity firm, in the acquisition out of bankruptcy of the Joe Jones Ski & Sport chain of seven retail stores for $5 million (Bankr. D. Me.).

We secured an arbitration award in excess of $5 million on behalf of a general contractor. The arbitration award was for a breach of contract/cumulative impact claim against the developer of a high end waterfront residential condominium project. The award exceeded the Guaranteed Maximum Price, as adjusted by change order.

Represented Tasman Industries, a family-owned leather producing and processing company headquartered in Louisville, KY, in the acquisition out of bankruptcy of leather tanning facilities and business in Hartland, Maine from Prime Tanning for $6.2 million (Bankr. D. Me.).

Pierce Atwood attorney Gareth Orsmond played a leading role as part of a team that secured a waterways license for Cronin Holding’s 150 Seaport Boulevard project, a 250-foot tall, 22-story mixed use development in Boston’s Innovation District.  Gareth defended Cronin in multiple lawsuits brought by the Conservation Law Foundation and worked with former Massachusetts Governor William Weld to reach a settlement. The project, built around an iconic building designed by Elkus Manfredi, broke ground in 2018. The project plan was designed to incorporate significant public benefits, including 46 units of deeply subsidized senior housing and long-term funding to provide waterfront and Boston Harbor experiences to disadvantaged children from the City of Boston.

Defended a residential owner against a claim brought by the general contractor following a renovation project of a historic, high-end residence.  Represented the owner though a multi-week arbitration involving over 200 change order requests and an audit of the costs incurred for the guaranteed maximum price (GMP) contract.

John Bulman has been appointed sole arbitrator in an AAA large complex case dispute relating to the engineering, design, procurement and construction of a power plant in the Eastern U.S.

Obtained full abatement at the administrative appeal level in Maine for telecommunications services provider of income tax assessment resulting from inclusion in tax base of dividends from a non-unitary partnership.

We represent an accountable care organization (ACO) in connection with a care management service line agreement with a hospital.

Represented Artemis Growth Partners, a private equity fund investing in the cannabis industry, on the acquisition of Bridge Farm Group, a UK producer of ornamental plants, flowers and herbs, from publicly traded Canadian cannabis producer Sundial Growers, Inc.

Pierce Atwood represented Great Bay Renewables in connection with its acquisition of an existing royalty agreement on a portion of an operating wind project from Apex Clean Energy for $18 million. The project, which achieved commercial operations in September 2022, is an approximately 1 GW wind project located in Hansford County, Texas owned and operated by a top-tier renewables owner-operator.

Represented Brascan Corporation/Great Lakes Hydro America (publicly traded real estate and power generation company headquartered in Toronto) in the acquisition out of bankruptcy of paper mills in Maine from Great Northern Paper Company. $140 Million Acquisition of Paper Mills (Bankruptcy District of Maine)

We represented the Town of East Millinocket, Maine in its acquisition of the East Millinocket mill, the former Great Northern Paper Co. LLC mill site. The acquisition was the culmination of over a year and half of work by town leaders and a variety of agencies to buy the property.

Assisted with the acquisition of ownership interest in telemedicine company that provides multistate second opinion services.

Assistance and counsel on acquisition and development of new groundwater sources.

During Maine’s 2015 legislative session, our government relations attorneys helped to pass various new laws to help advance the interests of our clients. We helped pass laws such as a sales tax exemption on fuel purchased for large scale greenhouses, student privacy protection, and grandfathering the approval of certain stormwater systems when expansions are proposed.

We assisted Advantage Capital Partners in organizing and establishing a NMTC-based pooled loan fund under the federal and State of Maine new markets tax credit programs. Through the pooled loan, Advantage increased its investment power and positioned itself to help more business grow. We assisted with the subsequent $10 million debt, convertible debt, and equity investment in a veterinary pharmaceutical company. We also assisted with a $27 million investment in a manufacturer producing merchandise displays systems.

Provided advice to client regarding the Massachusetts Permit Extension Act.

Advise major Northeast provider of fuel oil and propane in connection with trade association activities, including data exchanges.

Our SALT team obtained an advisory ruling from Maine Revenue Services for an information services company that further clarified when subscriptions for services that include digitally transmitted publications will be subject to Maine sales or use tax.

On behalf of Atlantic Gardens, LLC, we closed a deeply-subsidized eight-building, 32-unit affordable housing deal in Quincy, Massachusetts. The transaction required several loans and grants – both public and private – in exchange for long-term affordable housing restrictions. The City of Quincy put nearly $2 million of its affordable housing trust funds into the project.

Advising Encino Acquisition Partners (Encino Energy) on agreements for the sale and transportation of Encino's natural gas for compliance with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission requirements. Encino acquired the Ohio Utica Shale assets of Chesapeake Energy.

Represented Maine Blueberry Commission in development of new pesticide application general permit for application adjacent to water bodies.

We advised a large independent oil and gas exploration and production company that will be an anchor shipper on a new regulated crude oil gathering pipeline in the Delaware Basin of Texas and New Mexico that will move crude oil from the basin to larger trunk pipelines and on to Cushing, Oklahoma and other points.  We assisted in the negotiation of a letter of intent, a transportation service agreement including benefits for anchor shippers that will require approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (“FERC”) in a petition for declaratory order, tariff provisions, storage agreements, and other contracts.  We also advised the client on timing and options for dealing with FERC’s current lack of a quorum, which limits the agency’s ability to issue the requisite declaratory order.  In addition, we reviewed and assisted in the negotiation of downstream transportation agreements.

We helped Massachusetts and California based Advanced Cell Technology grow from an angel-backed start-up through several venture rounds and ultimately to a publicly traded platform. Advanced Cell Technology is one of the world’s leading companies commercializing stem cell cloning technologies. We helped Advanced Cell with multiple rounds of private and ultimately public capital raising, numerous joint ventures, technology transfer arrangements, licensing transactions, and management of their intellectual property assets.

Represented Anthem Insurance Companies, Inc. in its $102.5 million acquisition of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maine.

Advise prominent consumer goods manufacturer regarding antitrust compliance in connection with its distribution relationships and retail strategies, including the implementation of a minimum advertised price policy.

Advise Maine-based agricultural company with respect to antitrust compliance issues in connection with supplier and distributor relationships, including antitrust compliance training to sales staff.

Representation of non-profit public interest organization in connection with antitrust implications of national and state health care cost transparency efforts.

Representation of leading manufacturer of sports equipment and apparel in connection with price maintenance and price discrimination matters and other antitrust implications of its retail strategy.

Pierce Atwood won an insurance coverage appeal to the Massachusetts Appeals Court for our client, an insured food processing company. The appeal turned on the issue of whether an unexplained cause of damage to property constitutes an “occurrence” under a commercial general liability (CGL) insurance policy. The appeals court reversed summary judgment that the trial court entered in favor of the insurer, and remanded the matter to the trial court for further proceedings. The decision is significant because it is the first in the country where the court ruled that an insured’s liability based on application of the res ipsa loquitur doctrine could be sufficient to establish an “occurrence” under a CGL policy, despite not knowing the actual cause of damage. This is an important decision that is extremely beneficial to policy holders.

Pierce Atwood represents project developer Plus Power in connection with the financing, land use, environmental mitigation and siting of a 150 MW / 300 MWh battery storage facility in Carver, Massachusetts. Cranberry Point Energy Storage is the largest battery storage project under construction in Massachusetts.