Developer Dispute Goes Before Judge
by January 28, 2008 12:00 am 228 views
The dispute between World Granite & Stone Art Inc. against Brandon Barber and his Lynnkohn LLC had a Jan. 28 hearing before Judge Mary Ann Gunn in Washington County Circuit Court.
The hearing was to determine if the lien filed against the Legacy Building in downtown Fayetteville is valid.
Lynnkohn is claiming the lien of more than $392,000 for materials and services is not valid because the materials were never incorporated into the building and World Granite did not give Lynnkohn a 10-day notice that a lien would be filed.
World Granite and its president Chuck Laminack had a two-year, $500,000 exclusive supplier agreement with Lynnkohn to provide custom granite for the condominium project and claims it is exempt from the statutory requirement to give notice under an exception in Arkansas law for direct sales.
Arkansas law does not require 10 days’ notice for direct sales – only for construction work – and World Granite contends Barber and his company refused to allow delivery of the materials after they were procured from Brazil, Italy and India on their request.
After World Granite filed the initial lien in March 2007, Barber slapped him with a lawsuit for abuse of the lien process and was forced to take out a $784,796 bond to secure the final funding to complete the Legacy and sell condos.
World Granite fired back with a $1.64 million countersuit demanding the value of the exclusive contract in addition to damages both monetary and punitive.
Barber has finally been deposed in the case after two prior reschedulings, we’re told, but the interesting tidbit we heard was that he couldn’t provide the address in New York City where he has been splitting his time.