Gross & Janes (G&J), a Missouri-based company, is filing a lawsuit against an appraiser for allegedly making errors when handling about 4,200 acres of timberland. G&J stands to lose more than $2 million from the original appraisal, according to a lawsuit filed, Arkansas Business reported.
The case started in late 2011, when G&J wanted to buy 4,200 acres of timberland to make railroad ties. Jeff Neill Timberland Management was hired to do the forestry appraisal to determine whether G&J should buy the land in Arkansas and Louisiana from the Smith-Turner Land Co. of Springhill, La.
The appraisal report said that the value of the timber was between $5.8 million and $6.4 million, according to the lawsuit, and G&J said it relied on the appraisal when it made the purchase in January 2012 but didn’t list the purchase price.
Sometime after the purchase, G&J alleged that it “learned the actual value of the standing timber on the parcels was significantly less than represented by” the timberland management firm, according to the lawsuit. Before learning that, however, G&J had hired the timberland management company as forestry manager for the property, and G&J said the company didn’t manage the property properly, either.
“The actual value of the timber cut on the property since the sale and while under the management of [Jeff Neill Timberland Management] significantly exceeds the amounts paid to” G&J, the lawsuit said.