Neese's Country Sausage sued over $31,000 packaging bill in Greensboro

Packaging Corporation of America has sued Neese's Country Sausage in Guilford County Superior Court, saying the Greensboro food company has not paid $31,578.10 for packaging materials delivered to its Alamance Church Road plant. The complaint also seeks interest and court costs, pushing a basic supplier dispute into the middle of a broader period of strain for one of Greensboro’s most recognizable food names.

The filing, submitted May 7, says PCA delivered packaging materials in three shipments in July 2025 and that the products were ordered, delivered and accepted before the bills went unpaid. The materials included boxes used for liver pudding and mild sausage, items tied to the ready-to-eat side of Neese’s operation. PCA’s claims include failure to pay on account, breach of contract and unjust enrichment.

The suit goes further than the principal balance. PCA is also seeking nearly $4,000 in accrued interest at an 18% annual contract rate, plus additional interest through judgment. That detail suggests the dispute has been unresolved for months, even as the company’s operational problems have deepened.

Neese’s production has been suspended since September 2025 after the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a Notice of Suspension for part of the Greensboro plant. The suspension was tied to ready-to-eat process requirements, and the USDA said production could not continue because the company had not requested inspectors to return. The ready-to-eat side of the plant handles products such as liver pudding and livermush.

For Guilford County, the case highlights how trouble at a longtime local brand can ripple outward. Packaging suppliers, food distributors and workers all depend on a plant that can keep buying materials, processing orders and moving products. When a company cannot keep those pieces in motion, the pressure reaches beyond the factory floor and into the broader local business network.

Neese’s has deep roots in Greensboro. Company history says J.T. Neese began selling sausage from a covered wagon in 1917, and the business has operated at its current Greensboro location since 1933. NCpedia says the family had been making sausage since the 1800s, that a delivery truck was carrying products around Greensboro and High Point by 1925, and that Tom and Homer Neese took over by 1930.

The latest court filing arrived after the death of Thomas Rice Neese Jr. on April 3 at age 92. Tommy Neese III said he could not comment at the time. For a company with more than a century of local identity, the lawsuit adds another financial and reputational question at a moment when the future of operations remains unsettled.