Rupple Road Rumbles in Court
by June 6, 2005 12:00 am 73 views
Everybody is still talking about the lawsuits between prominent developers Gary Combs and John David Lindsey. For about $30 worth of photocopying at the Benton County Circuit Court, the stack of legal briefs could make for enough summer reading to put John Grisham out of business.
The players include Fayetteville lawyers John Everett representing Combs and Charles Trantham for Lindsey. Attorneys Chris Lisle and Jerry Lovelace from two Springdale firms represent a third party, Neil Johnson.
The Readers Digest version goes like this:
Combs and Johnson owned Hometown Developers LLC. Lindsey contracted in 2003 to buy Phases II and III of Hometowns Sienna Estates subdivision in Centerton for nearly $8.15 million.
The breakdown was 228 Phase II lots at $21,000 each ($4.79 million) and 140 Phase III lots at $24,000 each ($3.36 million). About the same time Combs said Hometown was experiencing more than $1 million in cost overruns at Sienna, he was apparently in negotiations to sell Lindsey another piece of property ??” about 150 acres on Rupple Road in Fayetteville.
Combs said he and Lindsey agreed on $44,628 per acre for the Rupple property ($6.69 million), ratcheted up from the original $40,000 asking price to cover part of the unexpected costs at Sienna.
When it turned out the Rupple real estate would have to be annexed by Fayetteville and then rezoned, Lindsey decided not to buy. Now Combs contends that the lot prices at Sienna must be raised to $22,000 each in Phase II and $26,000 in Phase III to cover cost overruns.
Lindsey wants the Sienna lots at the original prices.
Johnson just wants to be able to sell Sienna as was originally agreed and said his 50/50 partnership with Combs shouldnt give his ex-crony the power to hold up the deal.
Even though the Combs-Lindsey-Johnson case is expected to be settled soon, the complaints are peppered with some nasty allegations.
Combs accuses Lindsey of breach of contract to the tune of $596,000, plus court costs and lawyer fees. Lindsey accuses Combs of fraud and seeks court costs and attorney fees.
Johnson accuses Combs of fraud, conversion and breach of fiduciary duties plus double billing a development company for work already paid for by the city of Centerton.
Johnson further accuses his ex-partner and Lindsey of entering into a secret agreement to sell Lindsey $350,000 worth of Hometowns dirt. Johnson alleges Combs pocketed that money.
Combs argues Johnsons intervention caused his Basic Construction Co. to be stiffed out of money it is owed.
A counterclaim by Lindsey asks for unspecified punitive damages from Combs. Johnson wants compensatory, punitive and treble damages in the amount of $40 million and, needless to say, costs and fees.
Theres more, but the best summation of this hate triangle comes in the form of some verbiage used in one of Combs complaints. It describes the groups business relationship now as, fractured, adversarial and irreconcilable.