Oro-Medonte spa facing lawsuits totalling millions of dollars

Editor's Note: This article has been updated after it was originally published.

An upscale Oro-Medonte spa is facing lawsuits from two companies that total more than $4 million, according to court documents.

Vetta Spa has yet to file a statement of defence for the largest of three lawsuits that have been filed.

Vetta opened in January 2022 with the offer of a traditional Finnish spa experience featuring massages, saunas, hydrotherapy cycle of heat, cold and relaxation, along with a Finnish-inspired restaurant or in-spa bistro.

But a year into its existence, BarrieToday has obtained court documents that show the Horseshoe Valley retreat is facing lawsuits from contractors and partners.

On July 7, 2022, Net Gain SEO Inc. filed a statement of claim against Vetta Spa and Eric Harkonen (founder and president of Vetta Spa) for more than $4 million for breach of contract, “damages for unjust enrichment and breach of its security system and theft of intellectual property.”

As of Friday, Vetta Spa had yet to file a statement of defence. Court paperwork shows the company had 20 days from the date it was served to respond.

Net Gain offers search-engine optimization and web development services and claims that on or around March 1, 2019, Harkonen, on behalf of Vetta, agreed to retain Net Gain to provide web and digital marketing services as Vetta prepared to open its spa facility, located on Line 3 North.

The claim states that in the agreement, Vetta would pay Net Gain $6,000 per month for a period of 10 months, for a total of $60,000, for pre-operation advertisements, and $8,000 per month for continued online advertisement services for a three-year term following the commencement of Vetta’s operations.

The statement of claim says when COVID-19 began, there were subsequent delays in construction, which lengthened the timelines of Net Gain’s service term.

The claim states Vetta asked Net Gain in September 2020 that there be a reduction in monthly amounts in order to help with cash flow.

It is alleged in the claim that Vetta, Harkonen and Net Gain verbally agreed Net Gain would temporarily reduce its monthly invoice to $1,500 until Vetta was able to either secure more financing or improve its cash flow following the commencement of its operations. The claim also states Vetta would retain Net Gain’s services for post-opening operations at the cost of $6,000 per month.

The claim states that on or around the middle of October 2021, it “became apparent to Net Gain that Vetta was having significant issues with paying its reduced invoices in a timely fashion.”

An example given was that Vetta had lapsed in more than 80 days in unpaid invoices and had only made a small payment.

The claim states Net Gain sent numerous emails over 2021 expressing concern with the lack of payments being made, until an email sent on or around Dec. 30 was responded to by Harkonen, in which the Vetta president allegedly “simply advised Net Gain that he did not have the time to dedicate to its concerns and that the construction issues associated with Vetta took priority.”

With regard to the security breach portion of the statement of claim, Net Gain alleges Vetta had previously asked on at least three occasions where the passwords were located for its social media sites.

The claim states that on Jan. 5, 2022, Net Gain noticed unusual activity on the Vetta social media accounts passwords. At the time, Net Gain believed Vetta was changing the passwords in order to block it from accessing the social media accounts without having to pay for the benefit of the same. Net Gain immediately changed all passwords.

The claim states that on or around April 5, 2022, Net Gain received an email from Harkonen advising the Vetta website had been “moved to another server.” Net Gain understood this to mean Vetta had “illegally accessed” Net Gain’s server where the website was hosted and copied the files, content and intellectual property, and that Vetta or an agent of Vetta “gained illegitimate access” to Net Gain’s servers in order to benefit from products and services for which it has not paid.

The claim states Net Gain hired IT professionals and determined there were numerous attempts by an outside party to gain access to Net Gain’s servers.

In its 22-page statement of claim, Net Gain alleges "the account balance currently due and outstanding is $425,943.60 exclusive of HST.

BarrieToday reached out to Net Gain managing partner Drew Dekker, who confirmed Vetta was served with a lawsuit and that Net Gain had not received a statement of defence as of yet.

“Unfortunately, I cannot provide any comment publicly at this time due to it being an ongoing legal case,” said Dekker.

Meanwhile, Leading Edge Earthworks filed statements of claim Nov. 5, 2021, against Harkonen, Vetta Spa, Beaudoin Gestion Construction Management and Beaudoin 3990591 Canada Inc.

The first claim states Leading Edge is owed $74,980.75 for excavation and grading services provided to make improvements on the construction of Vetta Nordic Spa. In the statement of defence, this claim is denied.

The court paperwork also claims Harkonen deceived the Leading Edge employees in order to prevent the plaintiff from registering a construction lien on the property and preserving its lien. In the statement of defence, this claim is denied.

In its statement of claim, Leading Edge alleges the defendants failed to maintain sufficient monies in construction trust funds and that Harkonen directed the owner to improperly use these monies for purposes to which they were not entitled. Those allegations are denied in the statemeent of defence.

Leading Edge’s second statement of claim, also issued Nov. 5, 2021, is filed against Vetta Spa and Beaudoin 3990591 Canada Inc. and is seeking more than $10,000 in damages with regard to a construction lien and work done to a damaged pipe.

Beaudoin answered with a statement of defence Jan. 6, 2022, and, regarding the pipe, alleges it was damaged by Leading Edge and, therefore, Beaudoin is not required to pay extra costs.

Beaudoin also claimed in its statement of defence, among other allegations, Leading Edge failed to perform work as scheduled and as per Leading Edge’s own committed completion dates.

Rob McHattie, the general manager of Leading Edge Earthworks, says both lawsuits related to Leading Edge have now been settled out of court.

As of the time of publication of this article, no court dates have been set for these matters.

Calls and emails to Harkonen, Vetta Spa and Leading Edge have gone unanswered.