Va. Farm Bureau Sued

The company brought charges against the Farm Bureau including interference with business expectancy, business conspiracy, common law conspiracy, and unjust enrichment, according to court documents.

Law firm Williams Mullen was also named in the case. Mini-USA’s owner had apparently worked with the state fair promoting entertainment for decades and hired Williams Mullen to help secure a arrangement to purchase the fair after the nonprofit that ran it filed for bankruptcy protection in 2011.

The Virginia Farm Bureau was brought in by the firm as part the deal, the Times-Dispatch noted, but the fair was instead sold off during an auction to Tennessee fair operator Universal Fairs in May 2012.

A subsequent attempt by Mini-USA to purchase the fair from Universal fell through. Then, to add insult to injury, the Virginia Farm Bureau announced that summer it was partnering with Universal Fairs and purchasing a 50 percent stake in the fair, the suit said.

The Farm Bureau purchased the remaining 50 percent stake of the fair the following year. Mini-USA alleges the Farm Bureau used confidential information from the Williams Mullen negotiations to “willfully and maliciously harm Mini-USA’s trade and business by misappropriating for their own benefits the due diligence information and proprietary, trade secret material prepared by Mini-USA … so that Farm Bureau could acquire the State Fair for itself, alone.”

The suit is seeking at least $14 million.