Bankruptcy filing cancels EDA versus Samuel North civil liability case

(Editors note: In response to a query from a reader, the cancellation of the EDA vs. North trial does not mean the plaintiff EDA’s claim has been dropped. Rather, the bankruptcy court process takes presidence over the civil claim. The EDA can file a claim for access to assets in the bankruptcy claim it asserts were wrongfully acquired from it. A similar process occurred when Jennifer McDonald filed bankruptcy, eventually leading to the no-fault civil settlement agreement between McDonald and the EDA.)

In the wake of a Chapter 13 bankruptcy filing by Jennifer McDonald’s husband Samuel North on Friday morning, July 15, the Warren Economic Development Authority (EDA, WC EDA, FR-WC EDA) civil liability case against him scheduled for jury selection and trial on Monday, July 18, has been cancelled. The EDA versus William Lambert trial slated for the following Tuesday and Wednesday, July 19-20, at this point remains on the Circuit Court docket.

There will be a one-day break in a busy month of EDA civil liability trials at the Warren County Courthouse on Monday, July 18, with the bankruptcy filing of defendant Samuel North, Jennifer McDonald’s husband.

There is also the possibility of a further motions hearing on the EDA versus Truc “Curt” Tran and ITFederal case set for trial beginning later in the coming week. That civil liability trial is slated for jury selection and possible opening arguments on Thursday, July 21. It is scheduled to continue on Friday, July 22, and run through the following week from Monday through Friday, July 25-29.

That trial seeks recovery of the $9-million balance of an EDA-financed $10 million loan to Tran and his ITFederal company. The EDA claims the loan was acquired fraudulently with unkept promises, including of development at a 30-acre portion of the 150-acre Royal Phoenix Business Park portion of the former Avtex Fibers Superfund site behind the EDA office complex on Kendrick Lane.

The lone unoccupied, and un-occupancy permitted, ITFederal building on a 30-acre parcel at the former Avtex Superfund site. In 2015-16, the property, publicly valued by the EDA at $2.1 million, was gifted behind closed doors to Truc ‘Curt’ Tran for a dollar as an incentive to ‘jump-start’ commercial development at the planned 150-acre business park. Seven years later the property continues to need a ‘jump’.

On the other end of the EDA financial scandal spectrum, the now cancelled EDA vs. North trial involved claimed damages of $70,000 or more related to a $110,000 loan North received from the EDA in 2015 for the purchase of a Robin Hood Lane property. According to sources on both sides of the case, the EDA was also seeking some portion, possibly double the base $70,000 claim, of a general claim of $350,000 in punitive damages against multiple EDA civil claim defendants were the jury to rule for the EDA’s claim of “conspiracy” against North.

“Conspiracy” has been one of five plaintiff claims brought against previous civil case defendants over the past two weeks, along with “Unjust Enrichment, Conversion, Fraud, and Ultra Vires”, the latter being a legal term for a public or business official overstepping their legal authority.