Intermountain Packing responds to lawsuit accusing it of not paying for $2 million worth of cattle
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IDAHO FALLS — A local meat processing plant accused of not paying multiple clients for more than $2 million worth of cattle has responded to a lawsuit.
Intermountain Packing in Idaho Falls is accused of violating the Packers and Stockyards Act by Dry Creek Dairies LLC and Idaho Magic Milk LLC in Twin Falls and Washington Agri-Investments LLC in Yakima County, Washington. It is also accused of breach of contract and unjust enrichment.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Packing and Stockyards Act exists to “assure fair competition and trade practices, safeguard farmers and ranchers, protect consumers, (and) protect livestock, meat, and poultry industry members from unfair, deceptive, unjustly discriminatory and monopolistic practices.”
According to the most recent court filings, Intermountain Packing has admitted to “delivery of post-dated checks per the agreement of the parties for certain deliveries” but denies all other allegations related to breaching contracts and failing to pay for cattle.
David Adams is listed in the lawsuit as an agent or employee of Intermountain Packing. According to his LinkedIn, he is the chief executive officer.
Adams was initially also accused of fraud by the companies, but those accusations have since been dropped.
Allegations
The complaint alleges between Sept. 29 and Nov. 9, 2023, the plaintiffs agreed to sell livestock to Intermountain Packing.
The companies listed as plaintiffs say they agreed to deliver the livestock for between $1.03 and $1.10 per live weight pound.
Between those dates, the companies reportedly delivered livestock valued at least $2,148,749.
The complaint states the companies were never paid for the livestock, and when confronted, Adams reportedly issued three post-dated checks to them with a “verbal promise for payment of the livestock.”
Court documents say that when Dry Creek Dairies tried to get payment for the livestock, they were given three checks that were “dishonored pursuant to a stop payment request by defendants Intermountain and David Adams.”
Dry Creek Dairies reportedly demanded that all delivered items be “held in trust” pursuant to the Packers and Stockyards Act.
Intermountain Packing was then required to buy an additional 528,597 live pounds of livestock from the companies but reportedly failed to do so, “causing additional damage to (the companies) and (the companies) lost $0.33 per pound on such animals” for another loss of $174,437.01, according to court filings.
Intermountain Packing declined to comment at this time, but agreed to do an interview in the near future to provide a more detailed statement on the lawsuit.
Further court hearings have not been scheduled.