Company with ISU ties is sued by former partners in the business

A company established by Iowa State University researchers is facing a lawsuit from its former partners in the business and a group of companies who say they’ve been falsely accused of theft and unfair competition.

The companies Fresh Roof of Ames, Hawk Seale of Postville, Herlan Industries of Ames and MAAD Industries of West Des Moines, along with Nacu Hernandez and Austin Hohmann, are suing SoyLei Innovations in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa.

Court records indicate SoyLei has six corporate members: Poly Bit Unlimited, operated by Christopher Williams; Herlan, operated by Hernandez; MAAD, operated by Hohmann; Short Trees Industries, operated by Michael Forrester; 3BC, operated by Baker Kuehl, and Corkboard Innovations, operated by Eric Cochran.

SoyLei was launched by ISU researchers Hernandez and Hohmann and others to develop, sell and license soybean-oil based chemical technologies such as additives and rejuvenators for asphalt pavement and shingles, according to court records. As part of its work, SoyLei obtained a patent on one rejuvenator dubbed “SESO,” with the patent assigned to the Iowa State University Research Foundation.

In January 2025, according to the lawsuit, SoyLei was informed that it would no longer receive federal grants for its work, and the company foundered. Hernandez and Hohmann, who acted as officers for SoyLei until that time, were furloughed.

More recently, when SoyLei relaunched its operations, it allegedly attempted, but failed, to win back former customers Fresh Roof and Hawk Seale, according to the lawsuit. SoyLei then accused Fresh Roof, Hawk Seale, Hohmann and Hernandez of infringing on the SESO patent, the lawsuit alleges.

In addition, the lawsuit claims, Soy Lei asserted that Hohmann “improperly used know-how, trade secret confidential information, and SoyLei intellectual property” to develop competing products, leading to lawsuits and counterclaims among the former partners in SoyLei.

SoyLei was a start-up company “founded by researchers from Iowa State University with high hopes of commercial success,” the lawsuit claims. “For a host of reasons, SoyLei did not achieve the commercial success its founders anticipated and the business and personal relationships between the founders deteriorated … After SoyLei lost its federal funding and needed to cease its operations, Hernandez and Hohmann were directed to sell equipment and raw materials housed at a warehouse that SoyLei rented.”

With the alleged approval of Cochran, SoyLei’s manager at the time, Hawk Seale — a former customer of SoyLei — purchased some of SoyLei’s soybean-oil material and related equipment, according to the lawsuit. After SoyLei relaunched its business, the lawsuit asserts, the company proceeded to “go after its members and former customers.”

According to the plaintiffs, SoyLei has levied baseless patent infringement claims against Fresh Roof, Hawk Seale, Hernandez and Hohmann, and Cochran has filed a police report against Hernandez and Hohmann falsely claiming they “stole” property from their partners at SoyLei. In reality, the lawsuit claims, the property in question had been “properly sold or disposed of at Cochran’s explicit request.”

Despite that, the lawsuit alleges, Cochran also filed a baseless complaint on SoyLei’s behalf with the Iowa Attorney General’s Office against Fresh Roof, and is now “contacting Fresh Roof’s customers and making unfounded accusations in an attempt to disrupt Fresh Roof’s business and unfairly compete with it.”

In addition, the lawsuit claims, SoyLei has filed a lawsuit in state court against the plaintiffs, alleging conversion, breach of fiduciary duty and unfair competition. The new federal lawsuit, the plaintiffs say, is intended to “put an end to SoyLei’s abuse of the legal system … Accusing Dr. Hernandez and Dr. Hohmann of stealing material was false and defamatory.”

The lawsuit seeks a declaratory judgment of non-infringement of copyrights and trademarks by the plaintiffs, a declaratory judgment that Hernandez and Hohmann have not breached any fiduciary duty to SoyLei and damages for alleged defamation and business interference with the purpose of financially harming Fresh Roof.

SoyLei has yet to respond to the federal lawsuit, but in state-court filings and exhibits the company has asserted that it has engaged in no wrongdoing.

A hearing date has yet to be scheduled in the newly filed federal case.