SASKATOON – Former National Hockey League [NHL] player Lyle Theodore Odelein lost his fight against his family’s farming operation that he invested millions into during his professional hockey career.
Odelein Farms, near Quill Lake, is jointly owned by Lyle Odelein, along with his parents Eric and Hilda Odelein, and his brothers Lee Odelein and Selmar Odelein.
“All three sons played hockey,” said Justice Grant M. Currie in his written decision in Saskatoon Court of King’s Bench.
“As their respective hockey careers began to take off in their teenage years, Lyle and Selmar discussed that, if either of them succeeded as a professional hockey player, they would re-invest their earnings in the farm so that they could farm together at the end of their hockey careers.”
Lyle Odelein eventually established a full-time career in the NHL. Selmar Odelein did not, said Justice Currie in his April 25 written decision.
Lyle Odelein played junior hockey for the Moose Jaw Warriors before being drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in 1986. He won the Stanley Cup with the Montreal Canadiens in 1993.
He was later traded to the New Jersey Devils, the Phoenix Coyotes, Chicago Blackhawks, Dallas Stars, Florida Panthers, and Pittsburgh Penguins.
While Lyle Odelein played in the NHL in 2001, the family incorporated their farming operation. The land and equipment previously owned by the members of the family, some of it jointly, were rolled over into the family farm corporation in exchange for shares in the corporation. This included land that was owned by Lyle Odelein, according to court documents.
After the family incorporated their farms, Lyle Odelein continued to play professional hockey and used some of his hockey earnings to purchase, lease or put a down payment on various pieces of farm equipment on behalf of or for their family operation. The amount he contributed was $1,627,975.
According to court documents, after Lyle Odelein retired from hockey in 2006, he continued to work on the family farm during the summer months until 2012. When he became engaged to his second wife he wanted to give up farming with his brothers, and asked for payment of his shareholder loan account in the family farm operation. Over the coming years, he tried to discuss the terms of payment to him with his family.
In 2018, Lyle Odelein was hospitalized and diagnosed with critical illness polyneuropathy after going into a coma and suffering paralysis. He underwent a heart valve, liver, and kidney transplant in Pennsylvania, according to Wikipedia. He was released from a rehabilitation facility in July 2018 and was walking unaided by September 2018.
In October 2018, The New York Times featured Lyle Odelein saying he was at death’s door and called him a “medical miracle after surviving a coma, triple transplant and paralysis.” The New York Times reported that in early March 2018, Lyle Odelein was golfing with buddies in Phoenix, a week later he was in hospital, two weeks later he was in a coma, and by the end of the month he was at death’s door. He was in a coma for 40 days.
His brother, Selmar Odelein, and the rest of the Odelein family members, all shareholders of the family farm, disputed Lyle Odelein’s entitlement to repayment. They told him that none of the family members expected to be paid out the balance of their shareholder loans because all of their contributions were intended for the benefit of the family farm. In addition, the family members reminded Lyle Odelein that he had repeatedly told them over the years that he wanted nothing out of the farm.
The Odelein family said that they only allowed Lyle Odelein to buy or lease farm equipment because he had assured them that it was a gift to the family farm for the benefit of the family.
Each shareholder understood and intended that the land and equipment that they contributed to the incorporated family farm would remain permanently, as the foundation for the multi-generation family farm, court heard. None of the shareholders understood that the shareholder loan accounts represented debts that had to be repaid.
Lyle Odelein had claimed that the family farm owed him $2.2 million for his contributions between 2001 and 2006. When the rest of the family refused to pay him, he started legal action against them to recover the money.
On April 25, 2024, Justice Currie ruled that Lyle Odelein had waived his right to repayment, his contributions were gifts and he wasn't entitled to repayment.
This report by SaskToday.ca first published on May 14, 2024, and updated on May 15, 2024, to include information from the New York Times.
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