Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

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COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2022
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

11. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

 

Lease commitment

 

The Company entered an operating lease for office space. The minimum future payments under the lease for our continuing operations in each of the years ending December 31 is as follows:

 

         
Remaining 2022   $ 140,382  
2023     284,953  
2024     294,727  
2025     311,483  
2026     311,483  
Subsequent years     856,578  
Total minimum lease payments   2,199,606  
Less: imputed interest     (541,133 )
Total lease liability     1,658,473  
Current portion of lease liability     (258,997 )
Non-current portion of lease liability   $ 1,399,476  

 

Debenture principal repayments

 

The following table summarizes the future principal payments related to our outstanding debt as of June 30, 2022:

 

2022   $ 2022  
2022   $ 2,244,000  
2023     6,732,000  
2024     5,049,000  
Long Term Debt   $ 14,025,000  

 

 

Contingencies

 

Litigation

 

During the six months ended June 30, 2022 and the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company had no new contingencies to disclose.

 

During the year ended December 31, 2018, the Company entered into a purchase agreement with certain parties representing proprietary technology. As consideration for the purchase of the technology and attendant intellectual property rights, the Company issued an aggregate of 5,263,158 Class A common voting shares (the “Class A Shares”).

 

An additional 105,263 Class A Shares were issued for consulting services to assist with application of the proprietary technology to the Company’s business.

 

Subsequent to the execution of these agreements, the Company was notified as to certain issues relating to the transaction agreements that were executed and the intellectual property risks that were purportedly transferred. After several months of analysis with various professionals, the Company determined that the technology was in fact invalid and therefore without any value.

 

On May 15, 2019, a claim by HydroHaus Horticulture, Inc., Stuart Brazier and Christopher Gielnik (the “Plaintiffs”) was filed in BC Supreme Court. The basic allegations against AgriFORCE Growing Systems Ltd. are:

 

  1. The Company breached the manufacturing agreement under which HydroHaus Horticulture claims it had the exclusive right to build hydro houses for the Company;
     
  2. The Company advised HydroHaus Horticulture that it was in breach of the licensing agreement relating to its project to build a hydro house for the Nak’azdli causing HydroHaus Horticulture to spend approximately $130,000 to change the way it was to perform that contract;

 

  3. The Company owes approximately $100,000 for expenses paid for by HydroHaus Horticulture, which has not been accrued for at this time as management does not believe the merits are valid. Should any amounts be required to be paid as a result of the claim, the Company will appropriately record at that time; and
     
  4. The Company wrongfully rescinded its agreements with HydroHaus Horticulture.

 

The Plaintiffs are seeking general and special damages, alternatively rescission of the agreements or specific performance of those agreements and payment for expenses incurred by HydroHaus Horticulture. The Plaintiffs are also seeking an order that the Hydrohaus IP (allegedly comprising certain cladding materials and methods of insulating greenhouses, regulating humidity, moving growing plants, and managing the movement of air, and any derivative works), and an associated patent application, be transferred to them. The Plaintiffs are also seeking an order prohibiting the Company from using the words, “Canivate”, “the Canivate Way”, “HydroFilm”, “Hydrohouse” and “Hydrohaus”.

 

On May 24, 2019, the Company filed a response to the claim, denying the allegations in the claim, raising the defense that the plaintiffs wrongfully purported to sell intellectual property which they falsely stated they had invented and owned and states that the intellectual property was unworkable to build greenhouses. The Company also alleges that the plaintiffs falsely represented that their work for the Kak’adzdli would benefit the Company when it would not. The response asks that the claim be dismissed.

 

The Company has also filed a counterclaim based upon its allegations that the plaintiffs wrongfully induced the Company to enter agreements with the plaintiffs based on fraudulent misrepresentations regarding the existence of ownership of intellectual property. Further, the counterclaim alleges that Mr. Brazier breached his fiduciary duties to AgriFORCE Growing Systems Ltd. (formerly “Canivate Growing Solutions Ltd.”) in preferring the interests of Hydrohaus over those of the Company.

 

The counterclaim seeks a declaration that the agreements which the Company rescinded were properly rescinded based upon the misrepresentations of the plaintiffs as well as general, special, aggravated and punitive damages, an accounting for profits, and legal costs.

 

During the six months ended June 30, 2022 and the year ended December 31, 2021, there has been no further activity in the lawsuit. Based on Company’s litigation counsel’s opinion, management does not believe the potential monetary damages to be material based on the damages sought by the plaintiff.