LAWSUIT TIMELINE

2016 Toccoa financier Rick Phillips says Brian Kemp came to him seeking a $500,000 loan for Hart AgStrong, a seed-processing firm based in northeast Georgia. Kemp is an investor in the firm, at one point holding a one-quarter stake in the company. (Kemp had personally requested an earlier loan of $600,000 that the firm was able to repay.)

2017 Hart AgStrong, after a number of technical problems and poor financial decisions, sees its license to buy grain directly from farmers suspended in Kentucky over its failure to immediately repay farmers more than $2 million. (State records show at least $400,000 has since been repaid.)

2017 Hart AgStrong faces two lawsuits claiming Kemp and other investors failed to pay back more than $700,000 in loans. (One of the suits was settled for $200,000. The other suit, filed by Phillips after he says the company missed two payments, was seeking $500,000.)

July 19, 2018 Five days before Georgia’s GOP primary, Kemp gives a deposition in Phillips’ suit. In the deposition, Kemp – who has played up his business experience in his campaign for governor as one of his strengths – answers lawyers’ questions by saying “I don’t recall,” “I don’t remember,”“I don’t know” or some variation at least 91 times.

Jan. 11 A consent order is filed in Gwinnett County Superior Court bringing a settlement to Phillips’ lawsuit. Details are not disclosed.