5 class action lawsuit against Bella Collina (Part 5 of 15)

IRREPARABLE HARM CAUSED BY THE CONSPIRACY

123. DCS directed the POA, in fulfillment of the conspiracy, to request zoning and use changes for Bella Collina, which include, but are not limited to, relocating the site of many amenities from their originally planned, desirable location to a new, less desirable location, or eliminating them altogether, decreasing lot sizes, turning property dedicated for the sports club, the equine center, and ballfields to additional lots, and building a hotel/condominium complex, all for the benefit of DCS and to the detriment of the POA members.
124. DCS, acting through the illegally controlled POA, devised a Conspiracy to inflate assessments owed by property owners to the point that the property owners were forced to convey their property to DCS rather than lose more money on their distressed lots, the values of which were suppressed by the conspirators.

125. On information and belief: Ginn and the Conspirators asserted inflated assessments in violation of the Governing Documents and the Homeowners Association Act.
126. The inflated assessments include exorbitant CDD fees, annual assessments, illegal special assessments, interest, attorney fees, late fees, country club initiation fees and dues.
127. The Conspiracy includes the constant harassment of lot owners by depriving them of access to the community, following them with security guards, verbal confrontations, threats of suspensions and fines without legally mandated procedures.
128. The Conspiracy includes the filing and threats of filing liens against property, interference with attempted property sales, exorbitant maintenance and COD fees, selective enforcement of an expired build compulsion, and repetitive lawsuits, often over trivial matters, without satisfaction of statutory pre- requisites.
129. The Conspiracy involves the use of lawsuits, as previously described, to force sales of lots and homes for nothing or a the five to ten percent of the value that would exist in the absence of the conspiracy, creating comparables that destroy the appraised value for other properties in the community, rendering them virtually unmarketable.
130. The Conspiracy involves the control of the Pine Island COD, which provides the central water supply to Bella Collina.
131. The suppression of lot values and development of Bella Collina causes extraordinarily high water bills and financial hardship on the COD.
132. The conspiracy involves the conspirators’ use of confidential POA and COD information supplied by members with the expectation of privacy, to harm members, including, the requirement that all members submit a detailed application to the POA, with an application fee of $500, for all proposed real estate sales, which the conspirators then use to interfere with the sale to satisfy the goal of the conspiracy to suppress lot values, acquire more lots and usurp the opportunities of the members.
133. The Conspiracy involves the surrender of beneficial opportunities of the POA to DCS and its attorneys and officers.
134. On information and belief, more than 400 lawsuits have been filed by the POA, acting as the alter ego of DCS, in this jurisdiction to date, all of which cases have been filed without standing and represent a fraud on the judicial system.
135. Ryan and the Ryan Law Group, on the instruction of DCS, Simonson, Schar and the other Conspirators, file these lawsuits, knowing that such actions are fraudulent, may disqualify the POA as a non-profit, will harm the lot owners, and will serve the Conspirators’ efforts to sabotage lot values and drive out non-developer lot owners.
136. This Conspiracy has been successful as most property owners, despondent about the failure of their lot values to rise commensurate with the dramatic increase of almost all property values in Central Florida and the rapid build out of almost all other communities, have been forced to convey their properties to DCS rather than continuing expensive and vexatious litigation and paying absurd amounts for assessment, membership deposits and club dues and enduring the constant harassment and intimidation.
137. As part of this Conspiracy, Ryan, on behalf of the DCS controlled POA, offers to discharge a lot owners’ annual assessments and alleged special assessment debt to the POA, and other assessments, attorney fees and costs allegedly owed to the POA, and settle expensive and vexatious litigation in exchange for their surrender of their property to the Conspirators.
138. These lawsuit settlements deprive the POA of any benefit of the asserted assessments or lot transfers, and permit the Conspirators to usurp all possible opportunities of the POA.
139. Schar, Simonson, the Ryans, the Ryan Law Group and others in the Conspiracy transferred most of the approximate 600 lots received as the objective of the Conspiracy to DCS, DCS 1-V, Rocking Red H, LLC, VV and BP, which entities currently possess such property.
140. On information and belief, the POA suffered damages of at least $9,000,000 in annual assessments, interest, late fees and costs from the Conspirators’ use of the POA to “‘write-off” the assessments for these 600 lots, and the Conspirators were enriched by the receipt of unencumbered lots.
141. On information and belief, the Ryans use the Ryan Law Group‘s escrow account to distribute funds to the Conspirators that belong to the POA.
142. The Conspiracy uses POA money to benefit DCS at the expense of the property owners, compensating directly Conspirators such as the Ryans, Greene, Burman and Aegis, and subsidizing applications to the Lake County Commissioners to turn common property into additional property to be developed by DCS.
143. On information and belief, this Conspiracy includes the embezzlement or underfunding of reserve funds for the benefit of the Conspirators.
144. On information and belief, the Conspiracy includes embezzlement of $2,445,295.78 of escrowed membership deposits that were transferred to the Golf Club pursuant to an “”Assignment and Assumption Agreement” on June 27, 2012 from the law firm of that closed on lots for Ginn.
145. The Conspirators embezzled millions in income from annual assessments paid by the lot owners and similarly-situated, non-developer lot owners for the sole benefit of the Conspiracy.
146. The illegal characterization of DCS as developer prior to turnover has been used to justify DCS’ failure to pay assessments to the POA on the more than 600 lots that it owns or illegal write-offs of POA assessments owed on lots surrendered to, which means that the POA has been deprived of approximately $1.8 million in dues annually for each year after the original developer’s assignment.
147. The financial statements of the POA now indicate debt owed to the developer of $7,000,000., despite the forced write-off of assessments owed on lots transferred to the Conspirators.
148. The Conspirators use improper accounting methods and fraudulent account statements and tax returns to justify nonpayment of obligations to the POA and to increase annual assessment payments by the lot owners to fulfill the goals of the Conspiracy.
149. On information and belief, the Conspirators control the CDDs of the community, which charge exorbitant amounts to lot owners for basic services, and harass lot owners in the lawful use of irrigation wells permitted by the Original CC&Rs, with lawsuits and threatening letters to further the Conspiracy.
150. On information and belief, DCS owes the PbA approximately $12 to 15 million dollars in dues, the payment of which has been avoided by the Conspirators’ control of the POA.
151. The POA acts as the mere alter ego of DCS and the Conspirators and only in their best interests, not the best interest of the lot owners as required by law.
152. The conspirators prevented the POA from appointing an architectural review board or from designating qualified builders, informing all parties interested in building homes that they must use Phoenix , a construction company owned and operated by Arrighi, who then charges exorbitant prices and requires excessive specifications, making home building economically unfeasible.
153. As indicated in the Bella Collina Property Valuations, attached hereto and incorporated herein as Exhibit B, the listed lot owners suffered approximately $13,617,728. in direct economic damages from the violations of law and breaches of duty inherent in the Defendants’ Conspiracy.
154. Other property owners suffered commensurate losses, so the gross amount of the total lost by lot purchasers is approximately $450,000,000, despite a brisk market for vacant lots and new home construction in all other gated communities, including adjacent new home communities in Montverde.
155. The Conspiracy is the exclusive, direct and proximate cause of the Plaintiffs’ damages.
156. The Honorable G. Richard Singletary. Circuit Court Judge. by Order dated June 24. 2016 (“June 24, 2016 Order”), granted petitions for injunctive relief, finding. in pertinent part, as follows:”36) Therefore, August 29. 2005 is the Turnover Date as defined by BCPOA‘s governing documents and Florida Statutes. Section 720.307.”37) Once turnover is required, the Developer, in accordance with Florida Statute, Section 320.307, has ninety days from the Turnover Date within which to complete a series of statutory obligations, including the election of a majority of non-developer lot owners to the Board of Directors of the BCPOA and the resignation of the Developer appointed Board Members.”38) In this case, ninety days (90) after the Turnover Date would have been on November 28, 2005…”
     “40)… The Articles of Incorporation of the BCPOA and Florida Statute. Section 720.307 compel the turnover of the BCPOA to an owner elected board within (90) days after ninety percent of the lots were sold, which triggering event occurred on or about August 29, 2005.”
     
     “41) “These triggering events should have resulted in an initial election meeting and vote of parcel owners for a board of directors. No such meeting and vote ever occurred….
     
     “42) Respondents continue to suffer immediate and irreparable injury, loss and damages as a result of the Developer’s failure to comply with the Florida Statute and the BCPOA’s governing documents.” (Emphasis added.)
     
     “’43) The Petitioners and the other lot owners have no adequate remedy of law.
     
     “44) The harm, if any, which would result to the Developer and the BCPOA, if this injunction is granted, would be relatively insignificant compared to the immediate and irreparable injury loss of damages the Petitioners, and those similarly situated, would suffer in the event that this injunction is not granted.
     
     “45) A permanent injunction is necessary to enjoin the BCPOA from denying Bella Collina lot owners and BCPOA members control of its community.” (Emphasis added.) June 24, 2016 Order, p.8, Appendix 11.
     
     “A) Petitioners request for receivership is DENIED without prejudice.
     
     “B) Petitioners request for injunctive relief for the Turnover of the Property Owner’s Association is GRANTED.” (Emphasis added.)
     
     “Respondents shall proceed with Turnover in compliance with all relevant Florida Statues and the governing documents of the BCPOA. The triggering date for the turnover shall be the date of this Order. All other requests for injunctive relief are denied…”
     
157. Judge Singletary, consistent with the incontrovertible evidence, held that the Turnover Date for Bella Collina was August 29, 2005, that the Appellants were suffering irreparable harm by the Conspirators’ control of the POA, and that the Turnover election of lot owner directors, in accordance with the Governing Documents and applicable law, must occur within 90 days.

Prepared by: Don Karl Juravin