TORONTO - The fledgling Mill Street Brewery is denying any wrongdoing after a $3-million lawsuit was filed against it by Sleeman Breweries Ltd., alleging improper use of confidential information.
The lawsuit, filed against former Sleeman regional sales director David Mitchell and Mill Street Brewery, his new employer, contends that Mitchell joined Mill Street in contravention of a "non-compete'' agreement that he had signed.
It claims he also took confidential information with him and shared this information with Mill Street.
"This seems to be more about a beer industry Goliath trying to squash a David beer brewer,'' Mill Street, a provider of craft beer based in Toronto, said Friday in a release.
"We care about making beer. We believe that this is an extraordinary attempt to hurt one of Ontario's most popular craft brewers.''
CEO Irvine Weitzman dismissed the lawsuit, saying no files of a confidential nature to Sleeman were ever shared with Mill Street Brewery.
"We are proudly Canadian and actually just want to be left alone to excel in our craft and don't want to be run over by a branch of a conglomerate operating 10,000 miles away.''
Ontario-based Sleeman was acquired by Japan's Sapporo Breweries Ltd. last fall, making it the last of Canada's three biggest national brewers to shift to foreign ownership, following Molson Coors and Labatt.
Mill Street Brewery produces beers and ales and also operates a brew pub in Toronto's Distillery District.
