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CapitalPress.com
Friday, September 3, 2021
Judge OKs $3.8M legal fee
in Easterday bankruptcy case
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
The judge presiding over
the Easterday bankruptcy
has approved a Los Ange-
les law firm’s $3.8 million
legal bill, overruling objec-
tions by a U.S. trustee that
the firm’s average hourly
rate of $1,058 was too high
by Eastern Washington
standards.
The bill covered Feb-
ruary through May and
doesn’t include $1.3 mil-
lion billed for June by
Pachulski Stang Ziehl &
Jones. U.S. Bankruptcy
Judge Whitman Holt in
Yakima said the national
firm shouldn’t have to cut
its rates to match local
attorneys.
“I think the Pachulski
firm brings unique qualifi-
cations to this case,” Holt
said.
A new board of directors
for Easterday Ranches and
Easterday Farms hired the
firm in February after Cody
Easterday resigned and
declared bankruptcy.
Easterday
defrauded
Sven-Erik Spichiger/WSDA
The Washington State Department of Agriculture
eradicates an Asian giant hornet nest Aug. 25 in
Whatcom County, Wash.
Asian giant hornets
slaughter paper wasps;
scientists take note
Holly Briggs, J030; Chelsea Donnelly,
H049; Daniel Goodwin, F003; Gretchen
Groesbeck, D017; Teyadorra Kobernik,
Y014; Robin L McConnell, D001, H008;
Lisa Moore, A031; Brandi Wiebe, D003
2nd - 1501 Hawthorne Ave NE
Salem, Oregon
Kristen Blyeth, 2C03; Camilla Cutsforth,
1G17; Windy L Davis, 1C40; Garrison
E Horton, 1F43; Brian Ireland, 1C34;
Randall Jordan, 2A77; Shaynie Kluth,
1C04; Natalie Krummen, 1H02; Joshua L
Meeker, 1D27; Robert Mitchell II, 1H06;
Michael Mulholland, RJ07; Matthew
Nelson, 1A18; Hope Placencio, 2A56;
Sarah Richel, 2D56; Angel M Rodgers,
RF11; Candice Sullivan, 2C01; Kloie
Wilson, Y1-7
S258044-1
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder, on
09/13/2021. The sale will be held
at 10:00am by
COPART OF WASHINGTON INC
2885 NATIONAL WAY WOODBURN, OR
2013 SUBARU BRZ 2DR
VIN = JF1ZCAB16D1608573
Amount due on lien $1655.00
Reputed owner(s)
JEREMIAH P & NANCY L SURBER
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder, on
09/13/2021. The sale will be held
at 10:00am by
COPART OF WASHINGTON INC
2885 NATIONAL WAY WOODBURN, OR
2012 CHEV SLV PK
VIN = 3GCPKTE76CG136228
Amount due on lien $1535.00
Reputed owner(s)
JANA & RYAN CHRISTENSEN
FARMERS INSURANCE GROUP
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder, on
09/13/2021. The sale will be held
at 10:00am by
COPART OF WASHINGTON INC
2885 NATIONAL WAY WOODBURN, OR
2020 SUBARU WRX 4D
VIN = JF1VA2Y6XL9811222
Amount due on lien $1575.00
Reputed owner(s)
TATYANA & PAUL ZAGORODNY
JPMORGAN CHASE BANK NA
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder, on
09/13/2021. The sale will be held
at 10:00am by
COPART OF WASHINGTON INC
2885 NATIONAL WAY WOODBURN, OR
2019 BUICK ENCORE UT
VIN = KL4CJASB3KB792547
Amount due on lien $1535.00
Reputed owner(s)
JOSE MANUEL & MARIA CISNEROS
PRESTIGE FINANCIAL SERVICES INC
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder, on
09/13/2021. The sale will be held
at 10:00am by
COPART OF WASHINGTON INC
2885 NATIONAL WAY WOODBURN, OR
2012 ACURA ATL 4D
VIN = 19UUA8F50CA030440
Amount due on lien $1575.00
Reputed owner(s) ARACELI I &
HARRIET L GARCIA
OREGON STATE CREDIT UNION
S259184-1
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder, on
09/13/2021. The sale will be held
at 10:00am by
COPART OF WASHINGTON INC
2885 NATIONAL WAY WOODBURN, OR
2016 HYUNDAI ELANTRA 4DR
VIN = KMHD35LH0GU300398
Amount due on lien $1655.00
Reputed owner(s) JAKOB R & STEVE
R MOORE
IQ CREDIT UNION
S259185-1
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder, on
09/13/2021. The sale will be held
at 10:00am by
COPART OF WASHINGTON INC
2885 NATIONAL WAY WOODBURN, OR
2012 JEEP WRANGLER 2DR
VIN = 1C4AJWAG4CL154696
Amount due on lien $1675.00
Reputed owner(s)
STEPHANIE L CHAMBERS
ADVANTIS CREDIT UNION
S259180-1
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder, on
09/13/2021. The sale will be held
at 10:00am by
COPART OF WASHINGTON INC
2885 NATIONAL WAY WOODBURN, OR
2012 FORD EDGE 4DR
VIN = 2FMDK4JC2CBA42065
Amount due on lien $1675.00
Reputed owner(s)
BARBARA ANN JOHNSON
IQ CREDIT UNION
S259190-1
1st - 1668 Industrial Way SW
Albany, Oregon
will get to question Tyson
Fresh Meats’ chief operat-
ing officer, Shane Miller.
Miller and Cody East-
erday were in contact last
December after Tyson
uncovered
Easterday’s
scheme.
In a Dec. 14 email to
Easterday, Miller reviewed
options Easterday pre-
sented for working off
his debt. The profit-shar-
ing option projected Cody
Easterday repaying Tyson
over 10 to 15 years.
“As I figured, that one
had very little interest due
to the concerns over trust
and due to the timing to
receive a significant por-
tion of the debt owed to
Tyson,” Miller wrote.
“Right now the lead-
ership has interest in pur-
suing the North yard and
the ER brand transfer to
Tyson,” Miller wrote.
Cody
Easterday
responded Dec. 17 with a
memo proposing that he
reduce his debt to Tyson
by selling the lot to some-
one “who wants to be in the
cattle feeding business.”
Easterday warned that if
Tyson took control of the
feedlot it was assuming the
risk of losing various gov-
ernment permits.
S259191-1
Auction Starts Sept 7th 2021
storageauctions.com
Ends Friday, Sept. 17, 2021 10am
contends, stressing that a
post-sale appraisal valued
the lot at only $9 million.
Even if Tyson out-
bids Agri Beef, the differ-
ence will be eaten up by
legal fees as the sides fight
over ownership, Easterday
Ranches argues.
Easterday
Ranches
also has sought to cast
doubt that Tyson’s $25
million offer is even sin-
cere, especially consider-
ing that Tyson doesn’t own
feedlots.
At Easterday Ranches’
request, Judge Holt ordered
Tyson to produce any doc-
uments it has showing
that company leaders have
authorized buying the lot
for $25 million.
“We want to know if the
$25 million offer is a real
offer or not, as we think,”
Easterday Ranches attor-
ney Alan Kornfeld said.
Holt
also
ordered
Tyson to send its in-house
appraisal of the North Lot
to Easterday Ranches’
lawyers.
Easterday Ranches sus-
pects Tyson’s appraisal
will value the lot at less
than $16 million, under-
cutting its claim that Agri
Beef paid too little.
Easterday Ranches also
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 819
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder, on
09/13/2021. The sale will be held
at 10:00am by
AFFORDABLE TOWING INC
2994 BLOSSOM DR NE SALEM, OR
2020 NISSAN KICKS 4D
VIN = 3N1CP5CV0LL533036
Amount due on lien $2285.00
Reputed owner(s)
MARIA T DELGADO
FIFTH THIRD BANK NATIONAL ASSOC
S259186-1
PUBLIC LIEN SALE
U-STORE SELF STORAGE
sion from
bankruptcy
Judge Whit-
man
Holt
in Yakima
to continue
its effort to
Shane
undo
the
Miller
sale to Agri
Beef.
A
hearing is set for Sept. 15.
Lawyers for the bank-
rupt Easterday Ranches
filed documents Aug. 24
to support their conten-
tion that Cody Easterday
kept Tyson informed about
his plan to sell the lot for
much-needed cash.
Tyson “made a terri-
ble business decision” by
not making a cash offer
and lost the feedlot to Agri
Beef, according to Easter-
day Ranches.
Agri Beef paid a fair
price, Easterday Ranches
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 819
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder, on
09/13/2021. The sale will be held
at 10:00am by
AFFORDABLE TOWING INC
2994 BLOSSOM DR NE SALEM, OR
2017 HOND CIVIC 4DR
VIN = 19XFC2F82HE210497
Amount due on lien $2315.00
Reputed owner(s)
JESSICA ANN MCBRIDE
S259181-1
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder, on
09/13/2021. The sale will be held
at 10:00am by
COPART OF WASHINGTON INC
2885 NATIONAL WAY WOODBURN, OR
1994 TOYOTA CHASER 4DR
VIN = JZX936003604
Amount due on lien $1595.00
Reputed owner(s)
SPENCER ROBERT BOLTE
George Plaven/Capital Press File
Cody Easterday
S259192-1
The Harney SWCD is accept-
ing bids on a juniper treatment
project located near Drewsey,
OR approximately 46 miles
east of Burns, OR. There
are 142 acres of cutting, lop
and scattering, and hand pil-
ing. A mandatory bid tour will
be held on September 10th
@ 8:30 a.m. departing from
HSWCD office. Contractors
are required to meet all Ore-
gon public contracting laws,
maintain a $2.0 million dollar
general liability insurance pol-
icy, and be licensed to conduct
business in Oregon. Sealed
bids are due either by hand de-
livery or by mail no later than
noon, Friday, September 17,
2021. More information and
bid packets can be obtained at
the HSWCD office located 530
Hwy 20 South in Hines, or on
the district website, Harney-
SWCD.org.
S258040-1
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder, on
09/13/2021. The sale will be held
at 10:00am by
COPART OF WASHINGTON INC
2885 NATIONAL WAY WOODBURN, OR
2017 FORD F 250 PU
VIN = 1FT7W2BTXHEE57803
Amount due on lien $1515.00
Reputed owner(s)
DARREN WADE FLETCHALL
Washington cattleman
Cody Easterday offered to
share profits from his feed-
lot to work off his debt to
Tyson Fresh Meats, a plan
distrustful Tyson lead-
ers had little interest in,
according to newly filed
court records.
Tyson’s leadership was
more interested in Easter-
day simply turning over
the strategically located
North Lot in Pasco to begin
making amends for bilking
Tyson out of $233 million,
according to an email from
last December.
Easterday instead sold
the lot in January for $16
million to Tyson competi-
tor Agri Beef. He then filed
for bankruptcy and later
pleaded guilty to fraud.
He is scheduled to be sen-
tenced Oct. 5.
Tyson is seeking to undo
the sale to Agri Beef in
U.S. Bankruptcy Court and
regain the lot for its cattle.
Both beef companies have
nearby processing plants.
Tyson contends Easter-
day sold the lot for too lit-
tle to its competitor, com-
pounding his fraud.
Easterday raised cows
for Tyson. He billed Tyson
for more than 200,000
head that existed only on
invoices, according to fed-
eral prosecutors.
Tyson says it was blind-
sided by the feedlot’s sale
to Agri Beef and is will-
ing to pay $25 million for
it. Tyson needs permis-
S259187-1
S259189-1
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder, on
09/13/2021. The sale will be held
at 10:00am by
COPART OF WASHINGTON INC
2885 NATIONAL WAY WOODBURN, OR
2017 FIAT 500 CV
VIN = 3C3CFFER6HT594294
Amount due on lien $1575.00
Reputed owner(s)
CARVANA LLC
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
S259193-1
S259183-1
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder, on
09/13/2021. The sale will be held
at 10:00am by
COPART OF WASHINGTON INC
2885 NATIONAL WAY WOODBURN, OR
2016 TOYOTA SCION 2DR
VIN = JF1ZNAA17G9708280
Amount due on lien $1515.00
Reputed owner(s) ARAM
HERNANDEZ & XAVIER NGUYEN
BOEING EMP CU
hour, while the lead attor-
ney for Bush Kornfeld bills
$450 an hour.
Dyer said Pachulski
Stang’s rates exceeded
the $800 an hour billed by
senior members of a law
firm that restructured Astria
Health, a Yakima County
health-care provider. Liqui-
dating farm properties will
be simpler, Dyer argued.
Holt was in accord with
Richard Pachulski, who
said his firm has had to rec-
oncile parties with compet-
ing interests and sort out
complex ownership issues.
“This case was as com-
plicated as you could have,”
Richard Pachulski said.
“This could have been a
complete disaster.”
Holt said it would be
unfair to make top national
firms reduce rates if they
took on a case in Eastern
Washington.
“Ultimately, it’s bad for
the district because I think
it drives cases elsewhere,”
he said. “As long as I’m on
the bench in Yakima that’s
not how things are going to
go here.”
Tyson rejected sharing feedlot profits with Easterday
S259182-1
Asian giant hornets are
apparently seeking out
and attacking paper wasp
nests in Whatcom County,
Wash., a preference scien-
tists hope will help them
find and eradicate hornet
nests.
Even hidden paper
wasp nests, such as in
pipes, are drawing Asian
giant hornets, according to
reports from residents. Sci-
entists will try to duplicate
the attraction to bait traps,
Washington State Depart-
ment of Agriculture ento-
mologist Sven Spichiger
said.
“Obviously,
we’re
going to exploit that to
the fullest extent,” he said,
speaking at a press con-
ference the day after the
department destroyed an
Asian giant hornet near the
Canadian border.
“Our main goal is to get
a better attractant based
on the smell or whatever
is attracting them to paper
wasp nests,” Spichiger
said.
The department was
tipped off to the nest’s gen-
eral area by a landowner’s
photo of hornets swarming
a paper wasp nest. It was
the first confirmed sighting
of a live Asian giant hor-
net this year in Washing-
ton, compared to several
by this time last year.
The department net-
ted a hornet and tied on an
electronic device. Coinci-
dentally, the department
was hosting a training ses-
sion for other agencies on
tracking the hornets. Ore-
gon Department of Agri-
culture entomologist Jes-
sica Rendon and USDA
Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service plant
health specialist Stacey
Herron found the nest Aug.
18 in a rural area east of
Blaine.
The nest was the first
one eradicated this year
and the second since live
Asian giant hornets were
sighted in late 2019 in
Whatcom County and Brit-
ish Columbia. The depart-
ment destroyed a nest last
October in the same area.
The hornets are known
to attack and kill honey bee
colonies, posing a threat to
agriculture. In Washing-
ton, the hornets have eaten
flies, bees, wasps and other
insects, according to a
state agriculture depart-
ment analysis.
One Whatcom County
resident reported that
Asian giant hornets were
grabbing paper wasps,
chopping their heads off
and dropping them to the
ground, Spichiger said.
“This is actually what’s
described as the ‘slaugh-
ter phase behavior,’ which
we’re obviously worried
about with our honey bee
population,” he said.
Attacks
on
paper
wasps aren’t alarming the
department. They also are
an invasive species.
The nest destroyed
Aug. 25 was three times
larger than the nest erad-
icated last year. The
department
collected
1,473 hornets in some
stage of life, including
one queen.
The hornets also were
more aggressive. They
flew out of a hole in the
rotting tree at Spichiger,
entomologist Chris Loo-
ney, trapping supervisor
Nathan Roueche and out-
reach coordinator Cassie
Cichorz.
The four were wear-
ing foam suits too thick
for the hornets’ stingers to
penetrate.
The suits are “fairly
uncomfortable,”
said
Spichiger said, “but it’s
got to be more comfort-
able than being stung.”
S259188-1
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Tyson Fresh Meats and
another company out of
$244 million and has prom-
ised federal prosecutors he
will make restitution. He is
scheduled to be sentenced
Oct. 5.
Legal bills are mount-
ing as the Easterdays liqui-
date their assets, including
several farms bought for
$209 million by Farmland
Reserve Inc., owned by the
Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints.
Assistant U.S. Trustee
Gary Dyer asked Holt to
trim Pachulski Stang’s bill.
He said the L.A. firm’s
hourly rates are double
or triple rates charged by
other law firms involved
the case.
Dyer said the bank-
ruptcy case wasn’t as com-
plex as the firm claimed.
Holt disagreed. “I think
the challenges in this case
have been significant,
highly complex,” he said.
Prior to being appointed
judge,
Holt
practiced
law in L.A. and said he
worked with Isaac Pachul-
ski, whose hourly rate is
$1,695.
“Isaac Pachulski is per-
haps the smartest person
I’ve ever met in any con-
text anywhere in my life.
He’s a veritable supercom-
puter of bankruptcy law,”
said Holt, a Harvard Law
School graduate.
“Whatever rate that
Pachulski
Stang
firm
charges for Isaac is proba-
bly too low,” he said.
Holt
also
praised
Pachulski’s brother, Rich-
ard
Pachulski,
whose
hourly rate is $1,592.
“I have a hard time con-
templating a rate that would
be unreasonable for (Rich-
ard Pachulski) to charge,”
the judge said.
Two Seattle firms are
also working on the East-
erday bankruptcy. The lead
attorney for Davis Wright
Tremaine charges $800 an
