A California farm has filed a breach of contract suit in U.S. District Court over dealings with a Colorado company the farm says failed to live up to promises in a 2019 hemp seed purchase.
The farm, Delano-based GX Farms, claims the H.E.M.P. Group LLC failed to supply the quantity and quality of hemp seeds agreed upon in GX’s original purchase. In May 2019, the farm agreed to purchase 520,000 Cherry Blossom hemp seeds for 70 cents apiece at a price of $364,000 and a brokerage fee of $25,000 to an individual the lawsuit identifies as Jay Mr. Nice Guy (the filing acknowledges GX is “ignorant of the true names and capacities” of some defendants). According to GX, the H.E.M.P. Group – based in Aurora, Colo. – “specifically warranted that the seeds were to have a germination rate of 99% and a 99.6% feminization rate.”
But the seed shipment is said to have been 85,000 seeds short and produced only a 55% germination rate, GX claims. The seeds also failed to reach the stated feminization rate, which the farm said “drastically” diminished a marketable hemp crop.
“Prior to this time, plaintiff GX FARMS had no reason to suspect that they had received anything other than seeds feminized at a 99.6% rate as promised and warrantied from defendant HEMP,” the GX filing notes.
GX is seeking between $3.5 and $17 million in damages as well as other relief the court “may deem just and proper.”
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