NORTH PORT \u2014 The fight for cash out of the closed Bobcat Trail golf course continues with ousted owner Richard Regis Smith III arguing against a motion to dismiss his lawsuit.<\/p>\n
A Tuesday hearing was canceled in the 12th Judicial District Court for Sarasota.<\/p>\n
It was to hear arguments in a motion to dismiss Smith\u2019s lawsuit against Utah-based Celtic Bank and its Sarasota-based attorneys Shannon Puopolo Esquire and Henderson, Franklin, Starnes & Holt, P.A.<\/p>\n
A second meeting on a related case is set for Thursday. It is unclear if it will address the motion to dismiss\u00a0\u2014 the two cases now address the same issues.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
An old fuel tank and other supplies are covered in grass at Charlotte Harbor National Golf Club at Bobcat Trail in North Port.<\/p>\n
SUN FILE PHOTO BY DANIEL FINTON<\/p>\n
Smith accused the bank and its Sarasota-based attorneys of sabotaging his negotiations with a buyer of the golf course who offered to pay $6.8 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Smith\u2019s complaint states the buyer backed out after the bank offered them another deal. Instead, the bank accepted $600,801 from a Naples-based golf course and hospitality company.<\/p>\n
The bank has an October deposition set for Smith.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Celtic Bank is seeking discovery about communication between Smith and several real estate companies, as well as a Las Vegas-based investor.<\/p>\n
Neither Smith nor his lawyer, Benjamin Chase, could be reached for comment. Smith still owed the bank about $3.4 million. The federal government covers the cost of a loan sponsored by the U.S. Small Business Administration.<\/p>\n
Bobcat Trail resident Doug McNamee said he believes Smith will continue to delay to avoid deposition.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s trying to squeeze out a settlement,\u201d McNamee told The Daily Sun.<\/p>\n
McNamee and his spouse are one of 13 Bobcat Trail households who loaned Smith money to buy the course and then more for another golf venture.<\/p>\n
McNamee is hoping discovery will reveal how Smith paid property taxes after the course was closed, along with legal fees.<\/p>\n
The bank foreclosed on the golf course, although Smith fought that in court.<\/p>\n
On July 1, a judge ruled against Smith\u2019s attempts to halt a sale by auction. It was sold to ITG Golf Management LLC on April 17. The new owners plan to reopen the course next fall. The property has sat derelict for seven years.<\/p>\n
Residents say they\u2019re happy the property will remain a golf course, and not a high-density housing subdivision that Smith sought.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A tree knocked down during Hurricane Ian lays across the course at Charlotte Harbor National Golf Club at Bobcat Trail.<\/p>\n
SUN FILE PHOTO BY DANIEL FINTON<\/p>\n
While the sale is over, Smith continues to seek payment from the bank. On Friday, Smith\u2019s lawyer filed a response to the bank\u2019s motion to dismiss as well as the law firm\u2019s. The response argues their motions to dismiss are invalid, because they argue the facts of the case rather than whether the motion is legally permitted.<\/p>\n
\u201cDefendants\u2019 motion does not identify a single pleading deficiency. Instead, it raises factual defenses and legal arguments that are improper at the motion to dismiss stage,\u201d the rebuttal from Smith\u2019s attorneys states.<\/p>\n
In his motion, Smith asks a judge to force the bank and law firm to cover his legal expenses.<\/p>\n
In its earlier motion to dismiss, the bank called Smith\u2019s allegations of fraud and sabotage \u201cincredible.\u201d Given the limitations of a motion to dismiss, they pursued other arguments.<\/p>\n
They argue a bank can\u2019t illegally interfere with a sale in a transaction they are already a party to. They also argue Smith provides no facts to show the bank or its attorneys gained financially by preventing the $6.8 million sale.<\/p>\n
And they argued Smith can\u2019t sue based on an alleged verbal contract to allow Smith to negotiate with the alleged buyer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NORTH PORT \u2014 The fight for cash out of the closed Bobcat Trail golf course continues with ousted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2014,44,54],"class_list":["post-53342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-charlotte","tag-golf","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}