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http://journalstar.com/articles/2007/08 ... 112605.txt
Bull mystery may be solved in Lincoln courtroom
By ART HOVEY / Lincoln Journal Star
Thursday, Aug 02, 2007 - 12:05:47 am CDT
Maine-Anjou bulls are known for being big and brawny and capable of endowing their sons and daughters with all sorts of genetic virtues, including meat tenderness.
What they are not known for doing is dying and then springing back to life in another state under another name.
When Nebraskans involved in a joint bull venture believe they have been misled by Oklahoma partners about whether a bull is producing champion-quality semen or pushing up daisies, things can get ugly.
Proof of ugly possibilities emerged in federal court in Lincoln Friday as a long list of plaintiffs, including Hartman Cattle Co. of Tecumseh, filed a civil lawsuit seeking more than $8 million in damages from partners in the Glover Cattle Co. of Elgin, Okla.
The focus for a looming legal showdown is a bull named Legacy Plus.
According to several pages of factual allegations on file at the U.S. District Court, Legacy Plus was born in 1997, reigned as grand champion of the Canadian Western Agribition in 1998, and won similar supreme distinction at the National Western Stock Show in Denver in 1999.
Many more show-ring accolades followed for the bull and his offspring.
Along the way, his value increased even faster than his physical size. The Hartman Cattle Co., the Glover Cattle Co., and other business partners as far away as Arizona picked up pieces of the ownership.
Then, according to court records, the potential for perhaps millions of dollars in income from sale and use of Legacy Plus semen took on some tragic dimensions.
In December 2001, the Glover part of the partnership reported the bull had a swollen scrotum.
All of the partners agreed on treatment at Oklahoma State University, but the Glovers soon sought out the rest of the ownership grouping again to report a lethal infection called peritonitis.
That led to mutual agreement to euthanize one of the most prominent breeding bulls in Maine-Anjou history.
Legacy Plus went off to rest in peace on or about Dec. 6, 2001.
Or did he?
Not according to a written version of bovine events offered Friday by plaintiff attorney Gene Summerlin.
"Glover and GCC did not euthanize Legacy Plus or cause Legacy Plus to be euthanized," Summerlin said.
"Legacy Plus either never had peritonitis or recovered from the infection, but neither Glover nor GCC informed the other (joint venture) members that Legacy Plus had recovered and had not been euthanized."
Instead, other partners later came to believe — based on their contacts in Maine-Anjou ranks — that the bull was still alive, part of a new ownership arrangement, and still fulfilling his breeding destiny from Wisconsin as recently as 2004.
He didn't die, according to the plaintiffs, until July 2005. That happened in Indiana after an injury left him unable to carry on with his breeding assignments.
Two years later, the non-Oklahoma partners, convinced they had been deceived, are alleging five causes for action: breach of joint business venture agreement, deceptive business practices, fraudulent concealment and misrepresentation, tortuious interference with a business relationship or expectancy, and conversion.
The suing parties want a jury trial and $1.675 million for each claim of wrongdoing.
What they don't want is any newspaper questions about their case.
"We have no comment on the lawsuit," Summerlin said after conferring with Hartman Cattle Co. executive Mike Hartman.
Before also declining further comment, co-plaintiff Tim Weber, also of Tecumseh, agreed the situation leading to the lawsuit was highly unusual.
"That would be obvious," Weber said, "because this is the first case I've heard of of any individual owning a bull and the bull supposedly dying and being resurrected a couple years later and given another name."
As of Wednesday afternoon, Ronnie Glover of the Glover Cattle Co. had not responded to repeated Journal Star attempts to reach him for reaction.
John Boddicker of the American Maine-Anjou Association in Missouri said he was waiting to hear from an attorney before answering questions the Journal Star e-mailed him about the breed and the amount of national attention the case may or may not have attracted so far.
Meanwhile, Larry Rademacher of Loup City, a Maine-Anjou pure-bred operator and a member of the national association's board of directors, said it all sounded far from familiar.
"I don't think this has happened hardly ever in any breed," Rademacher said. "It doesn't sound good, whatever it is."
:roll:
Bull mystery may be solved in Lincoln courtroom
By ART HOVEY / Lincoln Journal Star
Thursday, Aug 02, 2007 - 12:05:47 am CDT
Maine-Anjou bulls are known for being big and brawny and capable of endowing their sons and daughters with all sorts of genetic virtues, including meat tenderness.
What they are not known for doing is dying and then springing back to life in another state under another name.
When Nebraskans involved in a joint bull venture believe they have been misled by Oklahoma partners about whether a bull is producing champion-quality semen or pushing up daisies, things can get ugly.
Proof of ugly possibilities emerged in federal court in Lincoln Friday as a long list of plaintiffs, including Hartman Cattle Co. of Tecumseh, filed a civil lawsuit seeking more than $8 million in damages from partners in the Glover Cattle Co. of Elgin, Okla.
The focus for a looming legal showdown is a bull named Legacy Plus.
According to several pages of factual allegations on file at the U.S. District Court, Legacy Plus was born in 1997, reigned as grand champion of the Canadian Western Agribition in 1998, and won similar supreme distinction at the National Western Stock Show in Denver in 1999.
Many more show-ring accolades followed for the bull and his offspring.
Along the way, his value increased even faster than his physical size. The Hartman Cattle Co., the Glover Cattle Co., and other business partners as far away as Arizona picked up pieces of the ownership.
Then, according to court records, the potential for perhaps millions of dollars in income from sale and use of Legacy Plus semen took on some tragic dimensions.
In December 2001, the Glover part of the partnership reported the bull had a swollen scrotum.
All of the partners agreed on treatment at Oklahoma State University, but the Glovers soon sought out the rest of the ownership grouping again to report a lethal infection called peritonitis.
That led to mutual agreement to euthanize one of the most prominent breeding bulls in Maine-Anjou history.
Legacy Plus went off to rest in peace on or about Dec. 6, 2001.
Or did he?
Not according to a written version of bovine events offered Friday by plaintiff attorney Gene Summerlin.
"Glover and GCC did not euthanize Legacy Plus or cause Legacy Plus to be euthanized," Summerlin said.
"Legacy Plus either never had peritonitis or recovered from the infection, but neither Glover nor GCC informed the other (joint venture) members that Legacy Plus had recovered and had not been euthanized."
Instead, other partners later came to believe — based on their contacts in Maine-Anjou ranks — that the bull was still alive, part of a new ownership arrangement, and still fulfilling his breeding destiny from Wisconsin as recently as 2004.
He didn't die, according to the plaintiffs, until July 2005. That happened in Indiana after an injury left him unable to carry on with his breeding assignments.
Two years later, the non-Oklahoma partners, convinced they had been deceived, are alleging five causes for action: breach of joint business venture agreement, deceptive business practices, fraudulent concealment and misrepresentation, tortuious interference with a business relationship or expectancy, and conversion.
The suing parties want a jury trial and $1.675 million for each claim of wrongdoing.
What they don't want is any newspaper questions about their case.
"We have no comment on the lawsuit," Summerlin said after conferring with Hartman Cattle Co. executive Mike Hartman.
Before also declining further comment, co-plaintiff Tim Weber, also of Tecumseh, agreed the situation leading to the lawsuit was highly unusual.
"That would be obvious," Weber said, "because this is the first case I've heard of of any individual owning a bull and the bull supposedly dying and being resurrected a couple years later and given another name."
As of Wednesday afternoon, Ronnie Glover of the Glover Cattle Co. had not responded to repeated Journal Star attempts to reach him for reaction.
John Boddicker of the American Maine-Anjou Association in Missouri said he was waiting to hear from an attorney before answering questions the Journal Star e-mailed him about the breed and the amount of national attention the case may or may not have attracted so far.
Meanwhile, Larry Rademacher of Loup City, a Maine-Anjou pure-bred operator and a member of the national association's board of directors, said it all sounded far from familiar.
"I don't think this has happened hardly ever in any breed," Rademacher said. "It doesn't sound good, whatever it is."
:roll:
