The family behind BIC Pens has been engulfed in ink-stained legal drama, which is fighting for at least $30 million of the company's $2.7 billion stock, according to court records.
After years of court battles, the founder's son-in-law Marcel Bic, who perfected the fountain pen and launched the French company Société Bic in 1945, allegedly threatened to sue her three sons again over the family fortune.
The trio, Gonzalvi, Charles and Guillaume Beach, are pleading with a Manhattan judge to stop Veronique Beach, who married Marcel's son Bruno, according to legal papers.
Bruno Beach died in 2021.
“After settling the previous lawsuit with Ms. Beach last year, [brothers] He did not expect to find themselves in this court. They have no interest in litigation.”
“However, given Ms. Beach’s forceful tactics and repeated threats to sue them personally—again—if they do not give in to her unfair demands, they will have no choice but to seek the protection of this court again.”
The current disputes center on a separate company called Grenelle, which is owned by Veronique, Bruno's estate, and their children and has assets including a Paris apartment and 400,000 shares of Société SA.
The Paris home is located on Rue de Grenelle, where apartments can run from $1 million to $2 million or more in value.
Despite an agreement granting Veronique Beach “lifetime, exclusive, rent-free use” of the Paris platform, she has fought in court for years in an attempt to attempt a “hostile takeover” from Grinnell—and only last month threatened to sue her alleged children if they did not agree to her latest demands.
“Given Ms. Beach's prior lawsuit campaigns against them and Grenelle, [brothers] I took Mrs. Bish's threat to sue them. . . Seriously,” they wrote in legal papers.
Veronique Beach's attorney did not return a message seeking comment.
