Luxury condo project on hold pending lawsuit
By Pankaj Ladhar of Manos • Alwine P.L.
A 14-story luxury condo development in downtown Boynton Beach, Florida has been put on hold because of a pending lawsuit. The litigation concerns a dispute over the twin-tower 318 unit project between the developer and some of the buyers who have purchased approximately 25 percent of the units.
Sales of the units opened up in May of 2010. A major title company in the area has instructed all of its offices not to close or even process any further commitments for title insurance for the sale of any more units in the project because of the pending litigation.
Several judgments against the developer have already been won by some of the buyers, but the developer has not paid them, so the title to the units still owned by the developer are clouded by liens for the judgments.
These judgments reflect decisions by local judges that some of the buyers are entitled to refunds of their 20 percent down payments because the developer acted in an improper manner regarding the manner in which it held buyers’ funds in escrow. A total of 10 judgments have been entered so far, totaling approximately $1.4 million. The plaintiffs’ attorney believes that a number of additional judgments will be granted soon and when they are, the total may exceed $2 million.
Once all the judgments are entered, the plaintiffs’ attorney will begin the process of attempting to collect them and to find assets belonging to the developer which can be applied to pay the debt. Meanwhile, the developer has filed appeals of some of the judgments already granted. Whatever the ultimate court decisions, for now, the litigation appears to have placed further sales of units in the project on hold indefinitely.
Source: The Palm Beach Post, “Legal issues halt condo sales at Boynton’s Promenade,”Alexandra Clough, Feb. 12, 2012