Judge: Dec. 2 deadline for Uncle Nearest motion
12:20 p.m. Nov. 26, 2025
DUANE CROSS
MCO Publisher•Editor
A federal judge has given parties in the Farm Credit Mid-America lawsuit against Uncle Nearest until early next week to weigh in on an emergency bid by company founders Fawn and Keith Weaver to partially lift a litigation freeze tied to the court-ordered receivership.
New order in Farm Credit case
In a one-page order filed Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Charles E. Atchley Jr. directed plaintiff Farm Credit Mid-America PCA, and defendants Uncle Nearest, Inc., Nearest Green Distillery, Inc., and Uncle Nearest Real Estate Holdings LLC to respond by Dec. 2 to an “Emergency Motion for Limited Relief from the Receivership Stay to File Responsive Pleadings and Proceed to Judgment.”
The motion was filed by Fawn Weaver, Keith Weaver, and non-party Grant Sidney Inc., the investment company that owns Uncle Nearest, and asks the court to lift the stay just enough to allow them and related entities to answer the complaint, assert defenses and counterclaims, and file other documents needed to move the case toward trial.
Receivership limits defendants’ actions
The case, pending in the Eastern District of Tennessee, stems from Farm Credit’s claims that the Tennessee whiskey company defaulted on more than $100 million in loans and overstated the value of its barrel inventory, allegations the defendants dispute.
In August, Atchley placed Uncle Nearest and affiliated entities into receivership, installing a court-appointed receiver, Phillip G. Young Jr., to take control of operations and imposing a broad stay that has largely barred the Weavers and their companies from filing answers or defending themselves directly in the case.
Deadline set, replies barred
To speed resolution of the latest emergency request, Atchley shortened the usual briefing schedule allowed under the court’s local rules and explicitly prohibited reply briefs, signaling he intends to rule on the matter based on the initial round of responses.
The order also gives the receiver the option – but not the obligation – to file a response by Dec. 2, positioning the receiver alongside Farm Credit and the Uncle Nearest entities as potential voices on whether the stay should be relaxed so the Weavers can put their defenses and counterclaims on the record.
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