JELD-WEN Announces Jury Verdict in Steves & Sons Lawsuit

CHARLOTTE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- JELD-WEN Holding, Inc. (the “Company”) announced today that a jury in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division, has returned a verdict in the lawsuit filed against its wholly owned subsidiary JELD-WEN, Inc. by Steves & Sons, Inc. (“Steves”).

The verdict was unfavorable to JELD-WEN with respect to Steves’ claims that JELD-WEN’s 2012 acquisition of CraftMaster, Inc. (“CMI”) violated Section 7 of the Clayton Act and that JELD-WEN breached the supply agreement between the parties. The verdict awards Steves $12,151,873 for past damages under both the Clayton Act and breach of contract claims and $46,480,581 in future lost profits under the Clayton Act claim. The Company expects that Steves will be required to elect to recover its past damages either under the Clayton Act claims or the contract claims, but not both. If a judgment is entered under the Clayton Act, any damages awarded will be trebled. In addition, if a judgment is entered under either theory in accordance with the verdict, Steves will be entitled to an award of attorneys fees. JELD-WEN’s position is that, because future lost profits were awarded, Steves is not permitted to pursue its claim for divestiture of certain assets acquired in the CMI acquisition.

The Company continues to believe that the facts underlying this dispute do not establish either a violation of the antitrust laws or a breach of contract. The Company notes that both before and after the CMI acquisition, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice reviewed the transaction and did not challenge it. JELD-WEN believes that multiple pretrial and trial rulings were erroneous and improperly limited the Company’s defenses, and that judgment in accordance with the verdict would be improper for several reasons under applicable law. JELD-WEN intends to vigorously oppose entry of an adverse judgment, and to appeal any adverse judgment that may be entered. Accordingly, the Company does not believe that the ultimate outcome of this matter will have a material impact on its ability to operate in the ordinary course of business.

JELD-WEN’s claims against Steves and others related to misappropriation of trade secrets remain pending and are set for trial in April 2018.

The Company will offer remarks regarding this matter during its previously announced February 21, 2018 earnings call.

About JELD-WEN

JELD-WEN, founded in 1960, is one of the world’s largest door and window manufacturers, operating over 120 manufacturing facilities in 19 countries located primarily in North America, Europe and Australia. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., JELD-WEN designs, produces and distributes an extensive range of interior and exterior doors, wood, vinyl and aluminum windows and related products for use in the new construction and repair and remodeling of residential homes and non-residential buildings. JELD-WEN is a recognized leader in manufacturing energy-efficient products and has been an ENERGY STAR^® Partner since 1998. Our products are marketed globally under the JELD-WEN^® brand, along with several market-leading regional brands such as Swedoor^® and DANA^® in Europe and Corinthian^®, Stegbar^®, and Trend^® in Australia. For more information visit www.jeld-wen.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain “forward-looking statements” regarding business strategies, market potential, future financial performance, the potential of our categories and brands, and our expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, prospects, assumptions, or other future events. Forward-looking statements are generally identified by our use of forward-looking terminology such as “anticipate”, “believe”, “continue”, “could”, “estimate”, “expect”, “intend”, “may”, “might”, “plan”, “potential”, “predict”, “seek”, or “should”, or the negative thereof or other variations thereon or comparable terminology. Where, in any forward-looking statement, we express an expectation or belief as to future results or events, such expectation or belief is based on the current plans, expectations, assumptions, estimates, and projections of our management. Although we believe that these statements are based on reasonable expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections, they are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks, many of which are beyond our control that could cause actual outcomes and results to be materially different from those indicated in such statements.

Our actual results could differ materially from the results contemplated by these forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including the factors discussed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016, and our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, both filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The forward-looking statements included in this release are made as of the date hereof, and except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update, amend or clarify any forward-looking statements to reflect events, new information or circumstances occurring after the date of this release.

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Source: JELD-WEN Holding, Inc.