A recent breach of contract lawsuit in the New York Northern District Court alleges a delivery company, Maines Paper & Food Service, refused to pay $342,908.20 which they owed to a seafood provider for products they took to deliver during February 2020.
Maines has received other recent lawsuits with similar allegations of a breach of contract and not paying money owed, including 9 lawsuits filed in May and at least one other in June 2020. Koch Meat Co., Inc claims the company failed to pay them $2,571,941 for products Maines delivered for them in March 2020. Baker Commodities Inc. alleges the company owes them $1,460 for merchandise sent to them. Peco Foods Inc. says the defendant owes them $86,480.53 and interest on that amount and Perdue Farms Inc. says they are owed over $1,462,936.95.
Mazzetta Company, LLC, represented by Phillips Lytle LLP, filed the complaint against Maines. The company develops resources to source, process, and deliver seafood to restaurants and food service organizations around the world. Maines Paper & Food Service Inc. is a food distributor that works with Mazzetta to deliver seafood to customers. Customers give orders to Maines who then orders the products from Mazzetta and delivers them to the restaurants or other food services.
Maines is invoiced for the cost of the items and which it pays after the customer pays Maines for the deliveries. “By ordering and accepting Mazzetta’s products, the parties created a valid, binding and enforceable contract with respect to each purchase order and corresponding invoice,” the complaint states.
Mazzetta says the defendant received payment for the products from the customers but refused to pay their supplier. The company requests that Maines pay Mazetta the full amount owed and interest for each 30 days the invoice goes unpaid.
On May 21, Maines Paper & Food Service Inc. announced the business was acquired by Lineage Logistics, another food delivery company. A press release claims the acquisition saves over 850 jobs and “ensures continuity within the food supply chain” during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The COVID-19 pandemic, including the ‘shelter-in-place’ protocols enacted by the States has had a devastating impact on the food service and hospitality industry. Maines has not been spared by the COVID-19 pandemic,” the release says.
