Last May, Roger Bintliff got one of his companies involved with a Canadian outfit looking to sell eels to Asian markets. Half a year later, the Dresden man is defending himself in a lawsuit. If he loses, he could be out at least $188,000.

That won't happen, Bintliff said. He's confident the suit won't hold up in court. He could even have some money coming in the counter-suit he's planning, he said.

In a complaint filed October 17 in Lincoln County Superior Court, Oneel Corporation Limited of North York, Ontario, claimed Bintliff didn't live up to his end of the eel deal. The company is seeking the $188,619 it claims he owes, plus legal and other costs.

According to the complaint, Bintliff was supposed to buy glass eels from local fishermen and ship the eels to Asian customers, all from May 2, 2012 to June 1, 2012. He and Oneel were to split the startup costs 50/50, but Bintliff has only given the company $100,000 of his share of those costs, the suit claims.

“Oneel did not intend … the surplus funds, now unaccounted for, as a gratuitous contribution to the business enterprise or to Bintliff,” the suit said.

Bintliff denied he breached the contract. He said he did give Oneel the $100,000, but he believes that was $50,000 more than he had to. “I overpaid,” he said.

“It's just silly. It's ridiculous,” Bintliff said of the suit. For one thing, he shouldn't be the defendant because it was one of his businesses, Bintliff's Ocean Grill, that had the contract with Oneel, not him personally, Bintliff said.

Oneel's attorney Roger Therriault was on vacation October 25 and did not immediately return a message.

Susan Johns can be reached at 844-4633 or sjohns@wiscassetnewspaper.com.