Nature's Bakery on Stewart-Haas lawsuit: 'Not going to let them bully us'
Reno, Nevada-based Nature’s Bakery, which was sued for $31.7 million earlier this month by Stewart-Haas Racing for alleged breach of contract, on Thursday publicly responded to the suit.
Nature’s Bakery was supposed to sponsor Danica Patrick’s No. 10 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series car for three years, but pulled out after just a single season on the car.
“Nature’s Bakery is in material breach of its contract with Stewart-Haas Racing,” the team said after filing its lawsuit. “It is an unfortunate situation, as the team has delivered on all aspects of its contract and was prepared to do so again in 2017. Ultimately, this is a situation that will be resolved in a court of law.”
Not surprisingly, Nature’s Bakery in a statement Thursday had a different take on the suit.
“Following months of negotiations, Nature's Bakery recently notified SHR that it could not continue the partnership due to several commercial and contractual issues during the 2016 race season,” the statement read in part.
“Nature's Bakery is aware of SHR's media campaign and recent false legal complaint. Those actions appear to have damaged SHR's own business and unnecessarily drawn attention to SHR driver Danica Patrick. Contrary to SHR statements, Nature's Bakery remains a healthy and vibrant company.”
The statement also quoted Nature’s Bakery CEO Kelly Allin.
"Contrary to its image, SHR is run by big-business types that took advantage of Nature's Bakery. They now are threatening scorched earth litigation against a multi-generational family company," said Allin. "We're obviously not going to let them bully us. We may be a small brand, but we do not think what they are doing is right. We look forward to defending ourselves in court."
And it looks like they will have that opportunity.
