The Brinkley headquarters of Turner Grain Merchandising Inc. and its related companies.
It looks like the defendants of Turner Grain Merchandising Inc. of Brinkley will begin to mount their defense.
Last week, Jason T. Coleman, vice president of the grain merchandising firm, was served with a lawsuit filed by four farm companies in Lonoke County who accused him, his employer and other defendants of fraud, theft by deception and breach of contract.
Farmers have alleged that Turner has defaulted on its payments, and Arkansas Agriculture Secretary Butch Calhoun has said the losses could be more than $50 million.
Coleman has hired an attorney, Lisa Ballard of North Little Rock. She told us last week that she will be filing a response in the Lonoke County case and in another lawsuit filed against Coleman and Turner in Lee County Circuit Court.
“We haven’t made a decision on how we’re going to proceed on the civil cases in regards to [filing] a motion to dismiss or answer,” Ballard said. “We haven’t made it that far yet, there’s so much to consider.”
She said that she couldn’t comment on how Coleman was doing these days.
She also said she couldn’t comment on what happened to Turner Grain, which isn’t her client.
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.
Since last month, though, the company has been in tatters.
Lee County Circuit Judge Richard L. Proctor last month ordered Turner and its related entities not to sell any assets that might belong to eight farmers who sued them for fraud.
Meanwhile in U.S. District Court, Bruce Oakley Inc. of North Little Rock has amended its interpleader complaint to name more than 20 farmers who might have a claim on $513,463 payable to Turner that Oakley is holding.
More: Dale Barlett, an executive with Turner Grain, files for bankruptcy.
Oakley 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, 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.
Oakley wants to hand over the Turner money to a U.S. district judge to sort out who gets the funds.
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