In April 26 2018, IHM and ASHG entered into an agreement through a contract which were based on seeds. According to IHM, Jerry Norton convinced them that their seeds had good genetics and were the right ones to plant in North Carolina soil. They also made a claim that the seeds contain 97% germination rate as well as the extra three more pounds of seeds had the potential to make up for the 3% failure rate. The contract was done and IHM accepted the seeds as per contract. However, ISM did a test for the seeds upon receiving for its germination and found out that the germination percentage was nowhere close to 97%. It was, in fact, in high teens.
Baffled by the scam, IHM sent back the seeds for professional examination and germination testing by the experts, who later on managed to make the seeds reach a 24% germination rate. This percentage was even though above the previous testing, but extremely lower than what was promised on the contract. Jerry Norton was informed of these results, who surprisingly enough, denied to return their money as well as the seeds. He wasn’t even interested to discuss this matter anymore. IHM had no choice than to file a lawsuit against the scam that they faced from the hands of Jerry Norton.
What Charges Were Pressed Against Jerry Norton?
In 12th of October, 2018, IHM filed a lawsuit against Jerry Norton. The lawsuits that were filed against Jerry Norton were: Breach of Contract, Breach of Express Warranty, and Breach of Implied Warranty of Fitness for a Particular Purpose, Breach of Implied Warranty of Merchantability, Intentional Misrepresentation, Negligent Misrepresentation, Incidental and Consequential Damages, Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices, and Fraud.
Why Has the Lawsuit Been Delayed and For How Long?
Jerry Norton dismiss the lawsuit due to lack of person jurisdiction on December 31, 2018. However, this motion was denied. Jerry Norton again entered an appeal on 18th of March 2019. That too, was denied on 3rd of March, 2024. Norton intended to prolong his lawsuit, but that only seemed to deny the inevitable. That being said, he manage to delay his own trial for almost one year. Jerry Norton’s lawsuit was denied on the basis of a clause that was mentioned in the contract which he signed with IHM, which stated that “any dispute arising out of or related to this Agreement shall be venued [sic] in Raleigh, North Carolina.”
Final Thoughts:
To sum it up, the clause that has been mentioned above had allowed IHM to proceed with their lawsuit. Although, it was an unfortunate situation that this lawsuit had been delayed for almost a year, but it also had been said to be worth it by the CEO of IHM as it could allow them to win over $10,000,000 on the basis of incidental and consequential damages. The lawsuit will now go on as per the law and Jerry Norton could finally be persecuted for his offenses.
