Tyson Fresh Meats again moved Monday to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Cody Easterday that alleges the company reneged on an oral contract to share profits from selling “Cody’s Beef” in Japan.

The motion responded to a revised complaint Easterday filed last month, in which the ex-cattle feeder sharpened his allegations that Tyson exploited his face and name to boost beef sales in Japan.

The lawsuit quotes emails from 2020 in which Tyson executives plan to “jump start” the marketing campaign. Tyson brushes off the emails as a “throwaway exchange of no legal significance.”

In its dismissal motion, Tyson suggests Easterday was “most plausibly joking” when he emailed back and asked, “How much of a cut do I get?”

“The contractural validity of that response is on par with someone asking in a restaurant if they can borrow a chair from another table, and the person at the table saying, ‘It will cost you,'” Tyson’s motion reads.

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Previous stories: Read the Capital Press’ previous stories on Tyson Fresh Meats vs. Cody Easterday 

Tyson’s other arguments for dismissing the lawsuit include Easterday’s “unclean hands.” He’s serving an 11-year prison term for defrauding Tyson out of $233 million.

Easterday, 52, procured and fed cattle for Tyson’s beef plant in Pasco, Wash. Over four years, he billed Tyson for more than 265,000 head of cattle that didn’t exist.

After he was sentenced in October, Easterday filed the Cody’s Beef lawsuit and a second suit against Tyson alleging antitrust violations. Both suits are pending in U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington.

U.S. District Judge Stanley Bastian has said he will dismiss the Cody’s Beef suit unless Easterday provides more details to justify hauling the Arkansas company into an Eastern Washington courtroom.

The amended the complaint includes the email exchange that concludes with Easterday approving beef labels with his picture. “Looks good and im (sic) fine with proceeding,” Easterday wrote.

According to Easterday’s lawsuit, the campaign made him somewhat of a celebrity in Japan, but Tyson didn’t keep its promise to share proceeds.

Tyson’s central defense is that it didn’t do business with Cody Easterday, “the human being.” Instead, all agreements were with Easterday Ranches, the family company Easterday managed.

Easterday Ranches went into bankruptcy after Cody Easterday’s fraud was uncovered. Tyson argues it settled all claims with Easterday Ranches in bankruptcy court.

Easterday counters that the Cody’s Beef venture was between Tyson and himself and was separate from the contract Easterday Ranches had to procure and fatten cattle for Tyson.

Tyson has asked the judge to hear oral arguments on its motion to dismiss the suit. No date has been set.