Harco Constructors Seeks $3.4M for Unpaid Work on Marijuana Cultivation Facility

Ashton Harper, project manager at Harco Constructors in Maumelle (Brian Chilson)

Harco Constructors LLC built a medical marijuana cultivation facility for Carpenter Farms Medical Group in Grady (Lincoln County).

However, according to a complaint filed in Lincoln County Circuit Court in March, the Maumelle contractor wasn’t paid for its work.

The lawsuit, filed by David A. Grace of the Hardin & Grace firm of North Little Rock, accuses Carpenter Farms of breach of contract and says it’s liable to Harco for nearly $3.4 million, plus interest and reasonable attorneys fees.

In December, “within 120 days of last providing labor, services and materials to Carpenter” and giving it all required legal notices, Harco filed a $2.25 million lien against Carpenter property in Lincoln County to secure some of the debt.

Harco also is suing seven separate defendants who might have claims to the real property. The suit says the defendants “are joined herein to enable them … to assert any interest” in the real estate entailed by the lien. Any such interest, the complaint says, “is alleged to be inferior to the interest of Harco.”

Answers from the separate defendants generally admit the claims in the suit, but do not necessarily subordinate their claims to Harco’s claim.

A construction contract between Harco and Carpenter Farms, appended as an exhibit in the case, identifies the owner’s representative as Abraham Carpenter of Grady. The construction manager is identified as Ashton Harper of Harco, the son of company CEO Chuck Harper.

Ashton Harper told Arkansas Business on Wednesday that he couldn’t discuss the lawsuit, which also seeks a declaration that the $2,247,839 lien be judged paramount to any other claims by parties to the suit.

Harco also asks the court to fix a reasonable time for any judgment to be paid and for the court to order the property under lien to be sold and applied to the judgment.

Phone and email messages to Abraham Carpenter brought no immediate response, but in an answer and counterclaim filed May 17, Carpenter Farms alleged that it was Harco that was in breach of contract.

The answer, filed by attorney R. Victor Harper of Star City, claimed the general contractor failed to keep a proper construction schedule, causing delays in opening, and that improper construction led to changes, delays and cost overruns.

It calls for dismissal of Harco’s claim and a judgment against the plaintiff on the counterclaim, along with fees and costs associated with defending the action.