Grain trial jury selection to start today

Jury selection is scheduled to begin today in Lonoke County Circuit Court as scheduled, after a judge’s decision Thursday to not sanction attorneys for either side involved in a lawsuit stemming from the collapse of Turner Grain Merchandising Inc.

One particular motion, had it been granted by Circuit Judge Sandy Huckabee, could have put an end to the trial, in favor of the farmers who filed the lawsuit.

Instead, after jury selection today, testimony begins Monday. Huckabee has set aside nearly three weeks for trial.

A group of Lonoke County farmers and their farming entities claim they’re owed $6 million for rice in the August 2014 closing of Turner Grain, a broker in Brinkley. The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount in damages.

Turner Grain Merchandising filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in federal court, listing about $14 million in assets and about $47 million in debts. The farmers contend that Turner Grain was an agent of KBX, and that KBX was the actual buyer of their rice. Their lawsuit later was amended to add Steven Michael Keith Sr., owner of KBX, and two employees, Steven Michael Keith Jr. and Shay Sebree, as defendants.

KBX disputes the claim, citing $28 million made in payments to Turner during Turner’s waning weeks as evidence that its deals were with the Brinkley company, not with farmers. The company has said it made $104 million in payments to Turner Grain for grain from Oct. 14, 2013, to Aug. 11, 2014, about four days before Turner was shut down, when federal regulators found no grain in bins certified as being full.

KBX and the bankruptcy trustee for Turner Grain Merchandising also claim that Gavilon Inc., a Nebraska grain broker, took advantage of Turner’s financial struggles and failed to pay at least $14 million for grain it contracted to buy from the Brinkley company.

Relations between the KBX attorneys and those for the farmers have been tense, with each side claiming the other has failed to turn over relevant documents as required by the Arkansas civil procedure rules.

Kendel Grooms, the attorney for the farmers, argued earlier this week in a hearing that the judge should sanction the KBX lawyers and issue a default judgment in favor of the farmers.

The KBX attorneys said in a separate motion that it’s the farmers’ lawyers who should be sanctioned.

Huckabee denied both of those motions Thursday.

The farmers’ attorneys have provided the court with the names of 66 witnesses; the defense attorneys have a list of 71 named witnesses. Some witnesses are common to both lists.