LONOKE -- A circuit judge in Lonoke County on Thursday granted a delay in the trial of a lawsuit filed by rice farmers in the wake of the collapse nearly three years ago of Turner Grain Merchandising Inc.
Circuit Judge Sandy Huckabee granted a motion for continuance made by attorneys for KBX Inc., a grain dealer in Benton. Attorneys for the rice farmers also made a motion for continuance that is pending before Huckabee.
Jury selection had been scheduled to begin Tuesday, with trial set for 18 days through June 2.
Huckabee didn't set a new trial date, saying he would need to look at his schedule and at the availability of a courtroom in the Lonoke County Courthouse. He also said all the attorneys in the case will have to study their calendars.
Seventeen individuals constituting five Lonoke County farming enterprises filed a lawsuit in August 2014 alleging they had not been paid some $6 million for their grain.
Before granting the continuance, Huckabee rejected separate efforts by Chris Taylor, a broker for Turner Grain, and Gerald Loyd, a grain dealer in Dumas and president of a Turner Grain entity, to be dismissed from the lawsuit.
Attorneys for Taylor and Loyd argued there was no evidence they were directly involved in the collapse of Turner and that the rice farmers had little or no contact with the two.
Brooks Gill of Dumas, the attorney for Loyd, said Turner Commodities Inc., of which Loyd was president, lost $200,000 in the collapse of Turner Grain. Loyd, he said, didn't profit from Turner Grain and could no longer afford an attorney. Huckabee later granted Gill's motion to withdraw as Loyd's attorney.
On Tuesday, after about seven hours spent hearing various motions, Huckabee agreed to dismiss Neauman Coleman, a commodity futures broker, as a defendant. Six other entities deemed to be unrelated to the case also have been dropped as defendants.
The remaining defendants are Dale Bartlett of Marvell, president and co-founder of Turner Grain; Jason Coleman of Greenbrier, vice president and the other co-founder of the company; KBX; several entities Coleman and Bartlett helped form as part of their efforts to buy and sell grain; Taylor; and Loyd.
Turner Grain was closed down in August 2014 after inspectors with the U.S. Department of Agriculture found no grain in bins, contrary to certifications by Turner stating otherwise. The visit came just days after talk circulated through the small farming community that Turner Grain checks written to several farmers were being returned by the bank for insufficient funds.
Within two months of its closing, Turner Grain Merchandising Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy (later converted to Chapter 7), initially listing $23.8 million in debts and $13.8 million in assets. The debts later were amended to nearly $47 million.
Turner Grain Merchandising Inc. isn't a defendant in the Lonoke County because it is under federal bankruptcy protection.
There has been no indication in federal or state courts whether the Turner Grain entities have any remaining assets. Lawyers for the rice farmers contend that KBX, still a player in Arkansas' grain industry, was the actual buyer of the rice -- and failed to pay for it -- while Turner was the broker.
KBX attorneys deny the company had contracts with the farmers and has always paid Turner Grain on its purchases.
Attorneys for the rice farmers and KBX have sparred frequently the past few weeks over the release of documents sought by one side or the other.
Huckabee on Thursday sided with the rice farmers' attorneys in citing KBX for contempt in failing to back up the data from company cellphones and comply with the plaintiffs' request to turn over that data. Huckabee said the failure was deliberate, intentional and harmful to the plaintiffs' case, especially in the case of cellphone data being "wiped" clean.
Last week, Huckabee agreed with KBX's lawyers that the plaintiffs needed to provide more evidence to support their claims that KBX officials knew, or should have known, about Turner Grain's financial problems or possible wrongdoing by Turner officials but did nothing.
While KBX seeks more information from plaintiffs, the plaintiffs say they're still due copies of some 200,000 emails held by KBX and its lawyers. With those matters of discovery still in play, Huckabee granted the stay.
Business on 05/05/2017