13 former contract growers for defunct poultry manufacturer Chefs Undertaking have filed a lawsuit towards for individuals who had been executives with the corporate.
Chefs Undertaking shaped in 2019 however ceased operations in past due 2023 and filed for chapter in April 2024. It had operations in Arkansas and Oklahoma.
The go well with was once filed in the US District Courtroom of the Western District of Arkansas, Fayetteville Department.
Plaintiffs are Melisa Barr, Johnnie Bunch, Dustin Maybee, Lakeview Farms LLC, Leslie Harp, Lance Logan, Linda Sparks, Mike Unruh, Stuart Tanner, Tony Wagoner, Darren Swofford, Gregory Wilson and Invoice Melbourne. Defendants are Matthew Wadiak, Blake Evans, Tim Singleton and John Niemann, who respectively served because the founder, govt vice chairman, leader running officer and CEO of Chefs Undertaking. Neimann’s tenure with the corporate was once the shortest, as he was once most effective on board all over its ultimate few months of operation.
The plaintiffs allege that the 4 engaged in “misleading and differently illegal behavior” and are in quest of financial damages, legal professional’s charges and prices and different aid beneath the U.S. Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921.
The go well with alleges that the corporate projected a picture as a innovative, farmer-friendly integrator with sturdy control, however was once in truth “an under-capitalized startup whose major officials recklessly chased scale over sustainability – and landed their endeavor in chapter.”
A few of the go well with’s different allegations are that Chefs Undertaking:
- Killed greater than 1,000,000 broilers on its contract growers’ farms in an try to keep away from its legal responsibility to feed, procedure and pay for them
- Did not expose subject material details about its discretion beneath the Poultry Manufacturing Agreements.
- Misrepresented and did not expose subject material details about the industrial returns of its contract growers.
- Misrepresented and did not expose subject material knowledge concerning the corporate’s monetary historical past and situation.
Following the cessation of Chefs Undertaking operations, Arkansas Sen. Bryan King, R-Inexperienced Wooded area, penned a letter to Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Arkansas Secretary of Agriculture Wes Ward to hunt a crisis declaration to lend a hand with the depopulation of the chickens and to supply complete reimbursement to the growers, feed providers and any entity associated with serving to the placement. Ward knowledgeable Bryan the request was once denied.
Bel’s Poultry, an associate of Pitman Circle of relatives Farms, has since bought property owned by means of Chefs Undertaking.