The former chief financial officer for the Copper Mountain Mine near Princeton has been granted more disclosure in his ongoing $1.6 million wrongful termination lawsuit.
In a judgment published in March, Rodney Shier was given a partial victory to support his legal battle.
Shier sued Copper Mountain after he was fired in 2022, which the company claims was with cause over late filing of insider trading reports. Shier’s lawsuit seeks $1.6 million based in part on his salary of about $400,000 a year.
Shier’s lawsuit claims that the company shouldn’t have used late filing as justification, as the company had allegedly condoned similar actions by other company executives.
In the midst of the larger lawsuit, Shier filed an application to get additional disclosure from Copper Mountain.
An Associate Judge ruled on March 18 in partial favour of Shier, granting him access to some of the documents he requested, while rejecting other parts of his application.
The requests that Shier won include receiving disclosure on any circumstances and details related to any other employees who might have been fired due to late insider trader reports, whether any employees were disciplined due to later insider trader reports and whether the Chairman of the Board at the time was aware of his obligation to file a report within 10 days of becoming an insider.
In 2023, the courts overturned a prejudgement garnishment order, returning $1.6 million that had been set aside to cover the case.
Copper Mountain merged with Hudbay Minerals in 2023.
Whether Shier was fired with cause is still a matter ongoing before the courts and has yet to be unresolved. No trial date on the matter has been set yet according to court records.
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