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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Mosher Loses Another Fight Over Precision Dynamics

The co-founder of Precision Dynamics Corp. failed in his attempt to keep a private equity firm from buying a controlling interest in the San Fernando company. Walter Mosher filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court to prevent the deal between Water Street Healthcare Partners and Precision, the designer and manufacturer of identification wristbands used in the healthcare and hospitality industries. The suit alleges that actions by the Precision board dilute and devalue Mosher’s interest in the company and that it never considered other options to grow the company. Superior Court Judge David Yaffe on July 18 denied a preliminary injunction to keep the deal from going through, making way for Precision and Water Street to officially announce it the next day. The case as a whole remains pending. Technically, Mosher remains the chairman and chief technology officer of the company, said his attorney Howard Gould. “What role he is really playing is another question,” Gould added. “He is still physically and technically at the company.” Mosher founded Precision Dynamics in 1956 with three investors. The company is one of the largest manufacturers in the San Fernando Valley, employing 500 people in both San Fernando and Mexico facilities. The lawsuit against the Water Street deal is the second legal action in less than a year taken by Mosher against Precision and its President and CEO Gary Hutchinson and board members Robert Kraemer, Jonathan Lasch, and Robert F. Foster. A lawsuit filed in September 2006 challenged the election of Lasch and Foster to the Precision board of directors. In December, a Superior Court judge found a lack of enough evidence to back up the allegations, a ruling now on appeal. “Dr. Mosher has already lost four legal challenges including a trial where he has tried to assert his will over the judgment of the other four directors,” said Ron Nessim, an attorney for the defendants. “He has been unsuccessful each time and we hope this is the end of it.” Chicago-based Water Street has agreed to invest $75 million in equity financing to speed up Precision’s growth and expand its market position. In the lawsuit, Mosher alleged the defendants pursued the Water Street deal for their own benefit and failed to seek out or consider other proposals or alternatives to grow the company. Mosher has concerns about Precision after Water Street is the majority shareholder and whether there will be interest to keep the company in California, Gould said. “Dilution is not always about money, but control issues and what will happen with the future of the company,” Gould said.

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