Judge orders $70.5M payout in buyout dispute around Golden Valley trucking firm

A Hennepin County judge has ordered two brothers who co-own the Koch Trucking companies to pay a third brother $70.5 million in buyout costs and damages, ending a five-year public fight over the matter.

The case centers around the 46-year-old Golden Valley-based hardware supply firm Koch Cos. and its larger sister firm, the 43-year-old Stan Koch & Sons Trucking (SKT), which is one of the largest, privately held trucking companies in the country.

District Court Judge Laurie Miller ruled Friday that brothers Randy G. Koch and Dave H. Koch must pay their brother, James, $58.5 million for his ownership stake in the two companies.

They also must pay their brother $12 million in damages for breach of contract and unfair dealing after the two failed to stick to a settlement agreement reached in 2006, following the last time James Koch sued them.

The damages, originally determined by a jury in July, were upheld in the ruling last week by Miller, who declined to award James Koch additional sums sought on allegations that his brothers further schemed against him by breaching their fiduciary duties as officers of Koch Industries and Koch Trucking.

The three brothers each own roughly one-third of the two firms.

In the dispute, James Koch had argued that his brothers tried to withhold bonuses, withhold information and dissolve his ownership stake in the businesses.

Dave and Randy Koch argued that they had not withheld documents from their brother and that James was removed from the day-to-day running of the companies and therefore was remiss in interpreting how select tax, insurance and board meetings had been handled.

The parties agreed months ago to a buyout that would sever James Koch from ownership, but the amount required the intervention of the court.

The court-ordered judgment will be paid out in two parts.

While Miller ruled against several of James Koch's claims, she ordered that his brothers pay his attorney fees and set about the contentious task of determining just how much the trucking and supply businesses were really worth.

Miller ultimately ruled that James Koch's business valuation expert Robert Strachota provided "more reasonable and reliable" estimates than those given by his brothers' defense expert, Ginger Knutsen.

Miller used Strachota's figures, valuing the trucking firm at $160 million and Koch Cos. at $30 million as of May 2017 (the date closest to when James Koch sued his brothers for a second time).

The final valuation was far more than the $107 million and $21 million estimates put forth by Knutsen for the 2017 year.

Per the new court order, James Koch will receive $48.5 million for his stake in the trucking company and $10 million for his share of Koch Cos. He will receive 10% of the payments upfront and the rest, plus interest, over 12 years.

Company defense attorney Brooks Poley said the judge could have chosen a substantially higher valuation.

Had she selected the 2020 valuation date option advocated by James Koch, the worth of the companies would have been $57 million higher, because the trucking business was booming at that time due to the pandemic. Miller instead chose the date closer to when the siblings' dispute hit the court.

The judge also ruled that Randy and Dave Koch would not be required to post a bond to guarantee their future payments to James. That was seen as a win, Poley said.

Still, attorney Richard Ostlund, who represented James Koch during the five-year dispute, said in an interview Tuesday: "This is a victory for all who believe in principles of basic fairness. We are grateful for the service of the jury and judge."