CAPE GIRARDEAU – The U.S. District Court Eastern District of Missouri has ordered a case involving Helena Chemical Co. to stay in federal court.
The ruling was made on March 12 after defendant Marty Vancil, doing business as Vancil Farms, filed a motion to remand the case to state court, the district court said. Judge Audrey G. Fleissig wrote the court's opinion.
The case opened in 2017 when Helena Chemical Co. alleged Marty Vancil owed more than $75,000 for Helena Chemical products he bought during the 2016 growing season, including an herbicide which was to be used on Vancil’s cotton crop, according to the opinion.
“On Jan. 2, 2018, Vancil filed an answer and counterclaim, in which he asserted that the herbicide sold to him was defective, thereby justifying his non-payment,” the opinion states.
Vancil also included claims against Steve Hawkins and Tripp Giles, purported agents of Helena Chemical, suing them over allegations liability, breach of contract and fraudulent misrepresentation, the opinion states.
Vancil requested for the case to be heard in the Circuit Court of Dunklin County, saying the case shouldn’t belong in federal court because Hawkins and Giles are both Missouri citizens.
Helena Chemical said the case should stay in federal court because the court has authority to hear the case based on subject-matter jurisdiction.
“Helena Chemical opposes the motion and asks the court to interpret it as a motion to dismiss for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, since the case was never initially filed in state court,” the opinion states.
The court agreed with Helena Chemical’s argument.
“Helena Chemical correctly points out that Vancil’s motion, while couched as a motion to remand, is actually a motion to dismiss for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction,” the opinion said. “This case was never filed in state court, rendering Vancil’s motion procedurally improper.”
After Helena Chemical sued Vancil over allegedly failing to pay for the products, Vancil filed a counterclaim and said Helena Chemical’s agents sold herbicide that damaged his crops, according to the district court.
Because of Vancil’s counterclaim, the court said it will apply supplemental jurisdiction.
According to uslegal.com, “supplemental jurisdiction refers to the authority exercised by the United States federal courts to hear additional claims which are substantially related to the original claim in a suit; even though the court lacks subject-matter jurisdiction to hear the additional claims independently.”
In this case, the district court said the counterclaim arises out of the same transaction or occurrence as that asserted in the complaint, which is the sale of the herbicide.
“As a result, the court retains subject-matter jurisdiction over the entire action, even though Giles and Hawkins share Vancil’s Missouri citizenship,” the opinion said.
Founded in 1957, Helena Chemical Co. describes itself on its website as one of the nation’s foremost agricultural and specialty formulators and distributors in the United States.