The former NORPAC cooperative is seeking a “clawback” of $400,000 it paid for seed to Syngenta and disputes owing that company another $485,000 for seed deliveries.

The complaint filed by the bankrupt processor, now called North Pacific Canners & Packers, is the second lawsuit in which it’s trying to pay out less money to a seed supplier.

In another case, the cooperative claims the HM.Clause seed company lacks collateral for most of a $1.8 million bankruptcy claim it had made against NORPAC for seed deliveries.

After selling off substantially all its assets, the cooperative has repaid secured creditors who had collateral for their loans to NORPAC.

However, the bankrupt processor is still entangled in several disputes with farmers, seed suppliers and an asset buyer over roughly $40 million that it has yet to pay to unsecured creditors.

According to the most recent complaint, the cooperative paid more than $400,000 to Syngenta earlier this year, but “upon continued analysis of asserted lien claims” has determined much of that payment was “made in error.”

The lawsuit alleges the grain producer’s lien invoked by Syngenta to claim the $400,000 should only have applied to actual seeds or the proceeds from seeds, not to the crops grown from those seeds or the revenues from those crops.

As for the additional $485,000 that Syngenta is demanding for seed deliveries, that claim is invalid under an Oregon grain producer’s lien because the amount is owed by NORPAC’s Quincy Foods division in Washington, the complaint said.

Even if an Oregon grain producer’s lien did apply, Syngenta’s maximum claim that’s secured by collateral is $127,000 — the amount of money that one farmer directly paid Quincy Foods for seed, according to the cooperative.

Meanwhile, Syngenta’s maximum secured claim for seed delivered to NORPAC’s operations in Oregon is $122,000, which is the amount that four farmers paid directly for seed, the complaint said.

Under the cooperative’s bankruptcy plan, creditors with claims unsecured by collateral could be repaid 10% to 45% of the money owed to them, depending on the outcome of several lawsuits within the NORPAC bankruptcy proceedings.

Capital Press was unable to reach an attorney representing Syngenta in the case as of press time.