Combs Outlived by Legalities

Gary Combs, the tough and eccentric icon of the Northwest Arkansas real estate boom, is dead. But the legal wars that consumed his final years have yet to end.

His estate is under siege from creditors trying to collect on the sweet deals that went sour during and after the recession. There are already $3.7 million in claims pending in Washington County Circuit Court — Probate Division, and that figure doesn’t include the mountain of bills Combs accrued during his treatment for colon cancer, the ailment that killed him on Aug. 11, at Scripps Mercy Hospital in Chula Vista, Calif.

He was 59.

When Combs died, he was the defendant in numerous lawsuits, chief of which were those by First State Bank of Lonoke. The bank claimed Combs owed $1.28 million on a loan and that he had fraudulently hidden his personal fortune in the remote Cook Islands to keep the bank from collecting the debt.

With Combs deceased, his attorney, David Fisher of Bentonville, was named defendant in the suits. Fisher will also serve as executor of the Combs estate, and will be responsible for finding the assets needed to feed Combs’ creditors.

In an October court filing, Fisher conceded that the estate could be enormous.

“The scope of the estate of Gary W. Combs is far reaching, including but not limited to international accounts, luxury cars and interests in oil and gas and other commodities,” Fisher wrote. “These items were owned by numerous entities controlled and owned by Mr. Combs. Thus, the administration of this estate proposes to be challenging.”

As executor of the estate, it was Fisher who provided the court with Combs’ death certificate, issued in San Diego County by Dr. Martha Dalia Strauser. He died at 1:55 p.m. and was cremated five days later.

The death certificate spells an end to the persistent rumor in Northwest Arkansas development circles that Combs was, indeed, alive and camped out somewhere in Mexico, nursing a grudge against Northwest Arkansas and the United States.

Fisher said he was asked about the rumors surrounding Combs’ death and said he could understand why a few people might speculate that Combs was still alive. But, Fisher said, those people hadn’t seen the death certificate and the voluminous pile of unpaid medical bills.

Upon death, Combs had at least one major court-approved judgment lodged against him, and still owed $1.28 million on that judgment to First State. In July, First State, referencing the $1.28 million, filed a fraud suit against Combs.

In that suit, the bank claimed that Combs used a domestic account, Jumanji Ltd. Co., to funnel money to Jumanji 2009 LLC, an account in the Cook Islands in the South Pacific.

First State said Combs toggled the money between domestic and foreign accounts so he could pay his personal expenses in the United States while keeping the bulk of his fortune out of First State’s grasp.

“The defendant’s conduct was intentional, malicious, wanton and deliberately intended to injure FSB,” it says in the lawsuit.

As part of the Jumanji filing, First State also claimed that Lisa Dreeszen, Combs’ longtime girlfriend and beneficiary, used “fraudulent transfer” and “civil conspiracy” to take control of Combs’ renowned collection of toys, including a Cal Confederate Hellcat motorcycle, a Honda Valkyrie Rune motorcycle, a BMW Adventure Street motorcycle and a Porsche 911 Turbo.

Mark Henry, Dreeszen’s attorney, said, “She’ll deny any wrongdoing when the pleadings get to that point.” Dreeszen has filed a motion to dismiss the Jumanji suit and wants First State’s claims lodged in probate court along with the claims of all the other creditors.

A hint of what Combs was facing in his personal life surfaced in a July order of contempt of court against him. In the order, Washington County Circuit judge Kim M. Smith said Combs failed to “submit a letter from the out-of-state physician treating Mr. Combs that sets forth the out-of-state physician’s opinion as to Mr. Combs’ ability to attend the hearing held on April 17, 2012 … ”

In that case, a warrant was issued for his arrest.

In his will, Combs left millions in cash and belongings to his children, Hayley Marie Combs Taylor and Gabriel Wayne Combs, and to Dreeszen. Only time will tell if there is anything left to give once the will cycles through probate court.

Combs, a native of Combs in southwest Madison County, requested that he be buried next to family at the Combs Cemetery, where former Gov. Orval Faubus is also buried.

Joe Dietz, who oversees the cemetery, said Combs’ remains were buried there a few weeks after he died.

“I opened up the cemetery,” he said. “A whole lot of people were there.”