A Hermon solar company at the center of numerous lawsuits is now being sued for nearly $500,000.
Pine Tree Solar was hired by Knox County in June 2023 to do work at the local airport. But in the two years since, the solar company has failed to complete the work, forcing an insurance company to take over and take on additional expenses, a lawsuit filed by United Casualty and Surety Insurance Company on Monday said.
The insurance company issued performance and payment surety bonds to Pine Tree Solar for the work, the lawsuit in Penobscot County Superior Court said. It also names owner Michael Griggs, as well as Meghan Griggs, Stephen Walls and MG Property Holdings.
This is the latest legal action against the solar company that has a pattern of not completing jobs or failing to refund money. Pine Tree Solar has been sued more than a dozen times since June 2023, according to Penobscot County court records.
The company was closed by the Maine Revenue Services in February 2024 after its registration certificate was revoked for not complying with the state’s sales and use tax law. Pine Tree Solar, LLC, was administratively dissolved in September for failing to file its annual report, according to the Maine Department of the Secretary of State.
No one answered the phone number listed for the company Monday and Griggs did not return a request for comment by time of publication.
Once Pine Tree Solar “proved incapable” of completing the work in a timely fashion, the insurance company had to step in and find contractors to complete the work because it had issued the bonds, the lawsuit said.
By the time the airport project ends, the insurance company will have spent roughly $1.8 million to pay contractors to complete it, the lawsuit said. It said the money has been paid to subcontractors and suppliers that Pine Tree Solar failed to pay.
Knox County will pay about $1.3 million to the insurance company for the work, leaving around $459,600 that Pine Tree owes the insurance company, according to the lawsuit.
The insurance company said it is “virtually certain” that it will never recover the $459,600 owed by Pine Tree, and asked a judge to appoint trustees to manage the assets of Pine Tree Solar, Griggs and others named in the lawsuit. Those people are liable for the money, according to the contract between them and the insurance company, the lawsuit said.
Pine Tree owes just under $1.9 million in unpaid taxes to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and just over $12,000 to the Maine Revenue Service, according to liens filed in the Penobscot County Registry of Deeds.