Once upon a time in 2011, Ron Kresha, President and CEO of Golden Shovel Agency, (he's also the Little Falls-based Minnesota state representative from House District 9A) sang the praises of the firm's Director of Strategic Marketing Mary Whelan in the now deleted (but still cached) blog post, Teams Will Promote Revolutionary New Web System and Innovative Social Management Tool to Help Organizations Save Time and Money:
Little Falls, Minn., April 12, 2011 –- Golden Shovel Agency, a Web development firm specializing in online tools for economic and community development, has announced the expansion of its team naming John Marshall Vice President of Sales and Mary Whelan Director of Strategic Marketing.
The agency recently launched two new tools to propel organizations into the forefront of economic development. Web system Economic Gateway combines a Software-as-a-Service subscription model, content management system and GIS-Based site selection tool. GateKeeper Social Management helps organizations create and engage loyal online communities. . . .
Mary Whelan has over ten years agency experience in the areas of online marketing, interactive development, Web solutions and social media in the foodservice, domestic and global education, electronic software and construction industries. Her career includes agency work for clients such as Adobe, Best Buy, Nestle, General Mills, Dreyer’s, Multifoods, Hormel Foods, Land O’ Lakes, The Pillsbury Company and Bemidji State University’s Department of Professional Education. Whelan carries that experience over to the firm’s services, solutions and clients.
“Our strategically crafted sales and marketing team works collaboratively with our product and business teams to prospect the latest technologies and trends in community development and provide them as Web solutions to our clients,” said Golden Shovel President Ron Kresha.
“The goals for our clients are more than just attracting and retaining jobs. It is also about saving time and money for the organizations involved,” said Kresha.
Economic Gateway and GateKeeper Social Management are complementary solutions to achieve real integration across Web sites, mobile and social media tools. Golden Shovel is currently offering complimentary online exposure via its powerful online network.
Some time after that, the business relationship soured, and now Whelan is suing Kresha and Golden Key Agency LLC for $2 million to address claims of alleged damages related to property rights/copyrights, and Kresha and Golden Shovel have returned the favor with a counterclaim alleging damages of their own supposedly caused by Whelan.
The parties in Whelan v. Golden Shovel Agency, LLC et al are viewable here via PacerMonitor.com, while the latest filings in the docket are listed here. Whelan started legal action on February 10, 2014.
According to PacerMonitor, the last filing in the case, active in the United States District Court, District of Minnesota, is a January 26, 2015 Plaintiff's REPLY to Counterclaim of Defendant by Mary Whelan.
An earlier case filed by Whelan was dismissed without prejudice in the same court in August 2013; the order can be read here.
Not being a law firm, but only a poor country blog, Bluestem would not presume to assess the merits or lack thereof of the allegations made in the dueling documents. We present the following filings in the legal battle.
Whelan v. Golden Shovel Agency, LLC et al (Case Number 0:2014cv00365)
Whelan v. Golden Shovel Agency, LLC et al
The defendants' counterclaim:
Defendants' Counterclaim in Whelan v. Golden Shovel Agency, LLC et al
Whelan's answer to the counterclaim (the last document listed on the PacerMonitor.com site):
Whelan's Answer to Defendant's Counterclaim in Whelan v. Golden Shovel Agency, LLC et al
Photo: Ron Kresha, via the Brainerd Dispatch.
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