Ecoark Holdings Receives Scheduling Order for Jury Trial in Complaint Against Walmart Inc.
FRISCO, Texas, Oct. 22, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Ecoark Holdings, Inc. (“Ecoark” or the “Company”) (OTC: ZEST), announced that on October 20, 2020, it received a scheduling order from a federal judge in the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Arkansas for a jury trial to commence on March 29, 2021 in the Company’s complaint against Walmart Inc. (“Walmart”) (NYSE: WMT), originally filed in August 2018: Zest Labs, Inc. et. al. v Walmart, Inc. case number 4:18-cv-500-JM. For further information, see the press release issued August 1, 2018: https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/08/01/1545688/0/en/Ecoark-Holdings-and-Zest-Labs-File-2-Billion-Complaint-Against-Walmart.html . The complaint is for violation of the Arkansas Trade Secrets Act, violation of the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act, unfair competition, unjust enrichment, breach of contract, breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, conversion and fraud.
From 2015 to late 2017, Zest Labs, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ecoark, engaged in significant discussions, presentations, demonstrations, and proof of concept projects with Walmart. Zest Labs worked with a number of produce growers and demonstrated how the Zest Fresh solution would improve the consistency of delivered shelf life and therefore help to reduce shrink. In March 2018, Walmart publicly announced that, in just six months it had developed its Eden solution to “keep track of food freshness all the way from the farms to our stores” and to “eliminate $2 billion in waste over the next five years.”
“We are excited to have our day in court and have a jury hear our case, ” said Randy May, Chief Executive Officer of Ecoark.
About Ecoark Holdings, Inc.
Founded in 2011, Ecoark is a diversified holding company. The company has three wholly owned subsidiaries: Zest Labs, Inc. (“Zest Labs”), Banner Midstream Corp (“Banner Midstream”) and Trend Discovery Holdings, Inc. (“Trend Discovery”). Zest Labs, offers the Zest Fresh™ solution, a breakthrough approach to quality management of fresh food, is specifically designed to help substantially reduce the amount of food loss the U.S. experiences each year. Banner Midstream is engaged in oil and gas exploration, production, and drilling operations on over 20,000 cumulative acres of active mineral leases in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Banner Midstream also provides transportation and logistics services to oilfield transportation services contractors. Trend Discovery invests in a select number of early stage startups as part of the fund’s venture capital strategy; we are open-minded investors with a founder-first mentality.
