Dixie Legal battle Hits $1 Million

Loyal Whispers readers may remember an item in our Aug. 14 issue about a lawsuit between Jenny Talley and her former employer Ben Israel and his company, Dixie Real Estate.

The suit was first filed on Jan. 28, 2005, by Talley and went to trial on Aug. 22, 2006.

For our previous issue, we called the lawyers involved and got no response. But after the item was published, we received a call from Talley and her attorney, Lamar Pettus with Pettus Pettus & McGuire of Fayetteville.

It seems we missed one fine point among the massive mounds of paperwork filed in relation to the suit at the Washington County Circuit Court clerk’s office.

Talley’s original complaint involved a $131,750 investment she made with Dixie in a project on U.S. Highway 412 and Jones Street in Springdale, of which Israel is supposed to have promised to repay at least $80,000. However, the complaint said no money has been repaid to Talley and she is seeking compensation for lost commissions, defamation of character, punitive damages and attorney’s fees, on top of the invested capital. Talley is requesting a total of about $1.14 million. Dixie is counter suing for more than $1 million.

At press time, no information was available about the status of the suit because the trial was still going on.