A longtime Baton Rouge industrial supplier is suing Baker Hughes Energy Services over an unexplained decision it says could leave it with more than $25 million in unsellable inventory.
In a complaint filed Wednesday in Baton Rouge federal court, Gulf Valve Services accuses Baker Hughes of violating the Louisiana Unfair Trade Practice Act, breach of contract and unjust enrichment, among other things.
Gulf Valve is owned by Joel Hedrick, Bob Hedrick and Jeffery Hedrick. The company founded in 1967 assembles, distributes and supplies Consolidated brand products manufactured by Baker Hughes.
The Jefferson Highway company alleges that one day before its latest three-year distributor agreement ended in June, a Baker Hughes representative notified the company that the contract would not be renewed, providing no reason for the decision. It came just a month after Baker Hughes sold Gulf Valve additional inventory.
At issue are the annual audits from a manufacturer required to certify the valves for authorized sale. According to the federal complaint, Gulf Valve’s status as a distributor survives the cancellation of the contract, allowing it to sell existing inventory. But Baker Hughes allegedly did not perform a scheduled September audit and has yet to respond to Gulf Valve’s request for future audits to continue at its own expense to secure the necessary certification to sell the products.
“Gulf Valve has never failed BH’s audit and is certain that it would pass the annual audits if BH would conduct them,” attorneys from Phelps Dunbar write. “Thus if BH conducted the annual audits, Gulf Valve is certain it would be authorized to continue selling the inventory.”
The case has been assigned to Judge Brian Jackson.
