Aquafeed.com | USA - Bell Aquaculture loses lawsuits over unpaid bills

USA - Bell Aquaculture loses lawsuits over unpaid bills

A central Indiana fish farm that last year won approval for a $30 million expansion faces more than $200,000 in court judgments after lawsuits filed by businesses who say the company owes them money.

May 28, 2015

A central Indiana fish farm that last year won approval for a $30 million expansion faces more than $200,000 in court judgments after lawsuits filed by businesses who say the company owes them money.

Bell Aquaculture set up operations in the mid-2000s, opening a fish farm in Albany and building a headquarters in Redkey. The company\' raises perch and other fish for retail outlets and restaurants, including eateries in Indianapolis.

Company officials said in 2009 they hoped to raise $15 million from investors.

In 2012, the company asked the county to issue $16.6 million in economic development revenue bonds. Last year, the company said it planned to add 75 jobs to its current workforce of about 50 people at the fish farm in Redkey, near the Delaware County town of Albany, about 75 miles northeast of Indianapolis.

Now county officials and those who have done business with the company say they\'re worried the business is in trouble. Bell Aquaculture officials had no contact with economic development officials for months, and the company failed to respond to lawsuits filed by other businesses.

\"No one wants a faltering business, especially an Indiana business,\" Indianapolis attorney Mike McCrory told The Star Pressof Muncie. \"If they\'re facing challenges, we hope they turn it around.\"

McCrory represents Daybrook Fisheries in Louisiana, which supplied fish food to Bell. Daybrook won more than $211,000 from Bell Aquaculture earlier this month in a lawsuit filed in Jay County.

[Source:IBJ. Read article]