ST. LOUIS – A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit against a dairy suppy company about exclusivity rights made by St. Louis homeless advocate Larry Rice, who has filed multiple claims in numerous state and federal courts, all of which have failed.
U.S. District Court Judge Henry Edward Autrey granted Interfood's motion on April 9 for dismissal of a claim that the company violated a contract giving him the exclusive right to buy and sell their products in the United States.
Interfood made a motion to dismiss the case, saying it wasn’t a party to the exclusivity agreement, which expired 11 years ago.
When U.S. District Court Judge ruled the plaintiff in the sales exclusivity claim dismissed the plaintiff's case, he also ordered him to pay the defendant's legal fees.
Rice, a former director of Interfood Inc., filed a claim in U.S. District Court Missouri Eastern District alleging that he held those exclusivity rights.
“Plaintiff’s petition fails to state a cause of action and must be dismissed,” Judge Autrey said in his dismissal order.
He also ordered Rice to pay Interfood’s legal fees incurred in defending the case.
“Plaintiff’s claims are not warranted by existing law and are presented for the improper purpose of harassing defendants and needlessly increasing their costs of litigation,” the judge said in the order.
This is not the first time the issue has been in the courts. Rice has raised the issue in previous lawsuits and also failed.
“Numerous state and federal courts have dismissed Plaintiff’s claims and have entered sanctions, injunctions, and contempt orders based upon Plaintiff’s vexatious conduct,” the judge said.
He also dismissed the suit against Tepco, Interfood’s parent company, which is based in the Netherlands.
Tepco argued that it was not properly served with the lawsuit and the judge agreed. Rice tried to serve Tepco by having a special process server deliver a summons to Interfood’s office in Miami.
“The fact that Interfood Inc. may be a subsidiary of Tepco does not make Interfood Inc. an agent of Tepco for service of process purposes,” Judge Autrey said in his order. “A domestic subsidiary is not an involuntary agent of a foreign corporation for service of process under Missouri law.”
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri, Eastern Division, 4:19-cv-03162