JRM Hauling & Recycling Services, Inc. v. The Newark Group, Inc. (Lawyers Weekly No. 09-056-17)
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS SUFFOLK, ss. SUPERIOR COURT CIVIL ACTION No. 2015-3790 BLS 1 JRM HAULING & RECYCLING SERVICES, INC. vs. THE NEWARK GROUP, INC. FINDINGS OF FACT AND RULINGS OF LAW AFTER TRIAL This contract dispute was tried before me, jury waived, from October 23 to 27, 2017. The dispute arises out of a contract between plaintiff, JRM Hauling & Recycling Services, Inc. (“JRM”), and defendant, The Newark Group, Inc. (“Newark”), wherein Newark agreed to purchase and JRM agreed to sell “all secondary fiber produced by [JRM] at” JRM’s location in Malden, Massachusetts (the “Agreement”). JRM claims that Newark wrongfully terminated the Agreement in January 2015. By its terms, the Agreement was to run for ten years from its execution on November 1, 2006 to October 31, 2016. JRM asserts its claim in two counts: breach of contract and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. Newark counterclaims, pursuant to a provision of the Agreement, seeking indemnification from JRM for Newark’s costs, including legal fees and disbursements, incurred defending any unsuccessful claims made by JRM. I. FINDINGS OF FACT The Agreement JRM, a company with headquarters in Peabody, Massachusetts, is a hauler of trash and 1 recycled material. JRM is under contract with municipalities and businesses to pick up at curbside the trash generated by the occupants. JRM picks up trash that has been separated by the occupants to put newspaper and other paper into one bin and all other trash in another bin. The contract in this case concerns what JRM was to do with the “loose paper” picked up at curbside. Under its contracts with the municipalities, JRM was required to guarantee that the materials it collected from the residents would be recycled.. Newark is a New Jersey corporation with corporate offices in Cranford, New Jersey. In February 2015, as discussed below, Newark was acquired by Caraustar Industries, Inc. In 2005, JRM learned that a facility located at 1130 Eastern Avenue in Malden, Massachusetts (“the Malden facility”) might be available as a location for JRM’s operations. The facility had been operated previously as a recycling center. JRM began negotiations with the owner of the facility, Robert Heffernan, who was, at that time, a Newark employee. At around the same time in 2005, Newark was looking for sources of supply of Secondary Fiber/RMP for use by its mill in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Secondary Fiber/RMP is a description of the loose news and other paper collected by JRM. The mill in Fitchburg manufactured recycled paper board products from the secondary fiber. In particular, the mill was producing “graphic board” to be used as game boards and covers for books. Jonathan Gold was a long time executive of […]