Dare heiress loses family feud in court
Judge refuses to force big brothers to buy desperate sister’s shares
KITCHENER — A Dare Foods heiress who says she desperately needs money has lost a court bid to force her two older brothers to buy out her business shares in the family-owned Kitchener confectionery company.
Carolyn Dare-Wilfred, 65, filed a lawsuit in 2015 against her brothers, Bryan Dare, 71, and Graham Dare, 69, their holding companies and the holding company for Dare Foods.
She asked a court to appoint a third party to determine the value of her shares and order her brothers to buy them at that price.
A Superior Court judge in Toronto this week rejected DareWilfred’s request, saying she “failed to establish any basis for the relief she seeks.”
In 2014, she offered to sell her shares to her brothers for $55 million.
“Bryan and Graham rejected the offer,” Justice Barbara Conway wrote in her ruling. “They testified that they were not interested in buying her shares — they did not have the money and did not want to burden the business or their children with debt to fund a buyout of Carolyn’s shares.”
Dare-Wilfred argued their refusal to buy her shares, combined with the lack of third-party interest, “has the effect of holding her shares hostage and preventing her from realizing on her valuable asset at a time when she needs money,” the judge said.
The judge said there is no independent evidence to support her claim of lack of outside interest.
Carl Dare, the siblings’ father who died in 2014 at 96, had hoped to keep the shares in the family for the long term. He stipulated that if one of his children wanted to sell shares, the other siblings would have the first chance to buy them.
“The agreement does not contain a shotgun buy-sell clause,” Conway wrote her his ruling. “It creates no obligation on his children.”
The Dare brothers are senior executives at Dare Foods. DareWilfred previously worked in marketing at Dare.
“Carolyn had no involvement in the management or financial affairs of the Dare business,” the judge said.
In 1997, Carolyn met Harmon Wilfred and they married the following year. In 2001, they moved to New Zealand.
“Carolyn testified that Harmon was a ‘whistleblower’ who had worked for the CIA in the United States and they feared for their lives,” the judge said. “Harmon is now living in New Zealand as a stateless person.”
From 2001 to 2014, the pair invested in several businesses in New Zealand.
“Their original business was sold for approximately $1.3 million in 2014, from which they received $480,000,” the judge said. “Their other businesses were heavily damaged in the Christchurch earthquake of 2009 and failed.”
Some of the businesses “were placed into liquidation in 2013-15 and there has been litigation in New Zealand relating to those entities,” the judge said. “According to Carolyn, she is desperate need of money.”
The judge said she considered Dare-Wilfred’s financial circumstances, but noted “they are not in any way attributable to actions taken by any of the defendants.”
Her business visa in New Zealand has expired and she is now living with her daughter in Guelph, while her husband remains in New Zealand.
“My legal counsel has advised me that there is no comment at this time,” Dare-Wilfred wrote in an email on Friday.
Dare Foods traces its roots back more than 120 years, when Charles Doerr started baking biscuits in the back of his neighbourhood grocery store. Doerr’s grandson, Carl Dare, took over the business in the early 1940s.
Today, the company has annual sales of $300 million and 1,200 employees. Its products, sold in 50 countries around the world, include Breton crackers, Bear Paws cookies, Wagon Wheels snacks and a variety of candy under the Dare name.