The Brinkley headquarters of Turner Grain Merchandising Inc. and its related companies.
Dale Bartlett, president of Turner Grain Merchandising Inc. of Brinkley, filed for voluntary individual bankruptcy protection Friday morning estimating up to $10 million in debt.
The petition, filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, estimated Bartlett, of Marvell, had up to 49 creditors with liabilities between $1 million and $10 million. Bartlett reported estimated assets of between $1 million and $10 million.
A more detailed filing will come at a later date.
Bartlett filed under Chapter 12 of the bankruptcy code, which is designated for “family farmers” or “family fishermen” with a regular annual income. Under Chapter 12, debtors propose a repayment plan and make installments to creditors over three to five years.
More: View the filing here (PDF).
Among the creditors listed in the filing is Lance Gray of High Roads Farms of Helena. Gray is part of a group of farmers from Monroe, Phillips and Lee counties who have sued Turner Grain, its executives and related entities saying they haven’t been paid for grains they sold to the Brinkley company. Another group of farmers have filed a separate lawsuit in Lonoke County.
A Lee County judge held a hearing in Gray’s case last week after ordering Turner Grain and some of its related entities not to sell any assets that might belong to creditors.
Other creditors in Bartlett’s bankruptcy filing include Farmers & Merchants Bank of Marianna, Helena National Bank of Helena and Bruce Oakley Inc. of North Little Rock, which filed an interpleader in the case on Aug. 19.
The creditors list also includes people and companies related to Turner Grain. Those include Jason Coleman, vice president of Turner Grain, Neauman Coleman of Marianna and Agri-Business Properties LLC of Brinkley.
More: Turner Grain’s Jason Coleman hires an attorney.
The bankruptcy is the first filed by executives involved with Turner Grain since word of the company’s financial troubles began circulating two weeks ago. Sources have told Arkansas Business that the company appears to be close to filing for bankruptcy protection, leaving the farmers with whom it does business worried about breached contracts and possible losses.
State agriculture officials have put the money at stake between $20 million and $50 million.
Incorporated in 2002, Turner acted as a middleman between the farmer and the client who wants to buy the grain. It would buy the farmer’s supply and hold it until a customer wanted to purchase it.
Officials from Turner Grain have not answered repeated requests for interviews. The company had not filed for bankruptcy protection as of Friday.
Bruce Oakley Interpleader
Also Friday, attorneys for Turner Grain and Neauman Coleman & Co. filed their first responses in court.
Turner and related companies filed answers in U.S. District Court to the Bruce Oakley interpleader. On Aug. 27, Bruce Oakley amended the interpleader to name more than 20 entities that might have a claim on $513,463 that Oakley owes Turner.
David Choate, vice president of grain and barge operation for Bruce Oakley, told Arkansas Business last month that the company wanted a judge to decide how to divide the money among Turner’s creditors.
Oakley’s amended interpleader said there might be another 20 companies or individuals who sold grain to Turner and might make a claim on the money.
And there might be more than 30 people, whose names aren’t known, who haven’t been paid for trucking or other transportation services provided to Turner.
In addition, the filing said, there might be up to seven financial institutions that provided financing in connection with Turner’s business that might have a lien on the assets. The names of the companies aren’t known, Oakley said in the filing.
In its response, Turner Grain said it didn’t have a problem with the money being handed over to the court.
Turner’s attorney, Jim Tilley of Little Rock, wasn’t immediately available for comment.
Neauman Coleman & Co., which is also named as a defendant in the case, asked that it be discharged from the proceeding, according to its filing by attorney Jeffrey Elliott of Texarkana, Texas.
The filing also said that Neauman Coleman & Co. isn’t involved in grain warehousing or grain transportation. But it is a commodities futures brokerage firm, the answer said.
Elliott was unavailable for comment Friday afternoon.
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