Chilean Sea Bass Company Seeks $2.5 Million in Owed Payments on Fish Shipments

A seafood importer, Kendell Seafood Imports, can't skirt a more than $2.5 million bill for shipments of Chilean sea bass it ordered from fishing company Chilean Sea Bass Inc., the latter company said in an Aug. 16 complaint at the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island. Since Kendell entered into a contract in good faith for over $5 million in sea bass for 2019-2020 and has only paid a fraction of that total price tag, the importer must pay the remainder of the bill, CSB said (Chilean Sea Bass Inc. v. Kendell Seafood Imports, Inc., D.R.I. #21-00337).

Kendell was forced to delay payments for the Chilean sea bass shipments due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent state and federal lockdowns. At that point, the company had already paid over $1.3 million of its total bill. However, "CSB did not consent to any modification of the payment terms agreed to by Kendell and CSB when Kendell placed its order with CSB in January 2020," CSB said in its complaint. "Kendell failed to pay CSB the amounts due and owing as had been agreed and instead paid periodic installments to CSB from time to time over the course of the next year. From April 2020 and September 2020, Kendell paid CSB an additional seven installments for a total of $1,050,000 that CSB applied to seven of the February 2020 Invoices."

CSB is seeking the remaining $2.5 million in payments for the sea bass along with incidental or consequential damages and interest at a rate of 12% per annum. "Kendell breached its covenant of good faith and fair dealing by, among other things, by refusing to pay CSB the Arrearage unless CSB agreed to sell Kendall additional Chilean Sea Bass from CSB’s 2020-21 catch at below market prices," the complaint said.