Tomales Bay Oyster Company has failed to pay back more than $300,000 it owes West Marin businessman Kevin Lunny, a lawsuit filed last month alleges. But the two parties told the Light they are in talks to nip the breach-of-contract dispute in the bud. “We’re hoping to get it resolved so we can just withdraw it,” said Mr. Lunny, a rancher and contractor who owned Drakes Bay Oyster Company until the federal government terminated his lease in 2012. Soon after D.B.O.C. shut down, Mr. Lunny struck an agreement with T.B.O.C.’s then-owner Tod Friend whereby Mr. Lunny’s newly out-of-work employees would develop a never-used section of T.B.O.C.’s lease in Tomales Bay, planting seeds for oysters that the company would then sell and pay Mr. Lunny back. In total, Mr. Lunny spent about $320,000 for the work. But not long after, Mr. Friend fell overboard in his skiff and drowned, leaving his daughter, Heidi Gregory, in charge of the company. According to Mr. Lunny’s lawyers, the agreement fell apart after Mr. Friend’s death, and he has never been paid. “The facts underlying this case are not complicated,” the complaint filed in Marin County court last month read. “This is a case of parties who worked well together, reached agreements, benefited each other and then, when one of the key people died, the situation changed.” Ms. Gregory echoed Mr. Lunny’s hope that the matter could be resolved promptly through mediation, but she also expressed frustration. “It’s been five years since my dad died,” she said. “I don’t know why this is coming up now.” D.B.O.C. and its predecessors harvested and canned shellfish in Drakes Estero for more than 90 years. Mr. Lunny took over in 2005, and the company shuttered a decade ago when then-Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar chose not to renew its federal lease after a high-profile debate over whether the estero should become wilderness. When Mr. Friend offered him the chance to develop a section of shellfish lease north of Millerton Point in 2014, Mr. Lunny saw a chance to keep some of his workers employed. He purchased over a million oyster seeds from Starbird Mariculture and provided labor and equipment, the lawsuit says. “This opportunity was good for everyone,” Mr. Lunny’s complaint reads. “For [D.B.O.C.], it meant the opportunity to keep its extremely well trained and valuable staff engaged and working. For T.B.O.C., it meant that the company would benefit by having extremely experienced experts develop a previously undeveloped portion of its leased property.” Mr. Lunny expected to be paid back for his investment once T.B.O.C. could market the oysters. The company made a few payments, and Mr. Lunny told Mr. Friend in 2017 that his outstanding debt was about $308,000, which could be covered by the sale of the oysters Mr. Lunny’s workers had raised. “Hate that you have such an overhang to hold but ultimately the value is there, and is floating out there right now,” Mr. Friend replied, according to the complaint. A few months after Mr. Friend’s death in July 2017, Ms. Gregory met with Mr. Lunny to “catch up on what was and what is” in terms of the debt, the complaint alleges. She told him she was overwhelmed by handling her father’s estate, since he died without leaving a will. Then she and T.B.O.C. accountant Cathryn Irving failed to respond to a follow-up email. Mr. Friend’s estate case closed in 2020, Mr. Lunny’s lawyers noted. “To this day, this area is still being used by T.B.O.C. and T.B.O.C. continues to benefit from the services provided by [Mr. Lunny],” the lawyers wrote. None of Mr. Lunny’s current employees now work on T.B.O.C. leases, Ms. Gregory said. She believes there was no written contract between Mr. Lunny and her father, and she was unaware of the specifics of their agreement. “I’m still trying to figure things out for myself because I wasn’t here,” she said.