Restructuring planned

Stemtech International, a dietary-supplememnt maker, files for Chapter 11 protection.

Stemtech International, a formerly high-flying Pembroke Pines-based dietary-supplement maker, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as it battles a former supplier and seeks Supreme Court review of a $1.6 million judgment from a 2008 copyright infringement case.

On its website, the multilevel marketing company says it helps stem cells grow and circulate in the body, maintaining and repairing organs and tissues and “providing you with an unmatched level of wellness, both inside and out.”

Stemtech submitted the filing on Thursday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Fort Lauderdale.

The company remains in operation and has not laid off any of its employees, bankruptcy attorney Michael Seese said Monday.

“There are no plans to cease operations, and the company intends to use Chapter 11 as a means to further restructure operations and balance sheet and emerge a healthier and profitable company,” Seese said.

Stemtech is in talks with its primary lender, which supports its reorganization effort, Seese said. The company ran into cash flow trouble recently stemming from a combination of factors, he said.

It has been appealing a jury verdict in 2013 that awarded a stem cell photographer $1.6 million. The photographer, Andrew Leonard, filed the suit in 2008, saying the company licensed for $950 one-time use of one of his rare stem cell photos, taken through an electron microscope, for its internal magazine, but then replicated the photo at least 92 times in marketing brochures, videos, PowerPoint presentations and websites.

In August, the company lost an appeal of the award and is now asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its case, according to bankruptcy court filings.

In May, the company was sued by one of its suppliers, Cerule, an Oregon-based distributor of extracts from Blue Green-Algae, over what Cerule charged was nonpayment for products delivered to Stemtech. Stemtech is countersuing, court records show.

Also, Seese said, the company closed “a handful of unprofitable locations” last year, decreasing the company’s cash flow even though “we believe [the closures] will improve profitability.”

Foreign currency adjustments also resulted in losses, the company’s bankruptcy filings state.

On Jan. 30, the company’s landlord at 2010 NW 150th Ave., Pembroke Pines, served a notice of default. In court filings, the company listed $5.2 million in unsecured debt, including the $1.6 million claim by Leonard. Secured debt includes $3.4 million to Opus Bank, secured by all company assets, including patents and equity.